The Pilots couldn’t pull out a much-needed victory in Wilmington, falling 6-4. With that win plus a Marlins victory, the Marlins have clinched the second half of the season. Now, the only possibility for the Pilots to make the postseason is to have the second-best overall record. They are currently behind the Wilson Tobs and Wilmington Sharks for that,

Justin Starke (VMI), Chris Martinez (Univ. of Arts and Science), and Ethan Ott (University of New Mexico) all had multi-hit games for the Pilots. Ethan Ott had the Pilots’ only homer.

Jay Schueler (Southeastern University) pitched three great innings out of the bullpen, allowing no runs and no hits over three innings, striking out four.

Wilmington scored the game’s first run on a fielder’s choice. Ereu got into quick trouble in the first inning, finding himself in a bases-loaded, no-outs scenario. He kept the game within distance, only allowing one run to come in.

The Pilots answered in the top of the second inning, scoring a run on a wild pitch to even the score at one. Trey Morgan (VMI) took the lead with a single to right field, scoring Ryan Dooley (James Madison).

An RBI single from the Sharks tied the game at two in the bottom of the third.

The Sharks took the lead in the fourth, scoring two runs on a sacrifice fly and a wild pitch.

An RBI infield single by Justin Starke (VMI) cut the lead in half in the top of the fifth. However, the Sharks got this run back in the bottom half, scoring on a single to left field.

Another RBI single for the Sharks extended their lead in the bottom of the sixth.

Ethan Ott hit his fifth homer of the summer in the top of the eighth, cutting the lead to 6-4.

Tonight, the Pilots play in a must-win matchup against the Holly Springs Salamanders.