(Winchester, Va.) – The Dickinson baseball team gave the number one ranked team in the nation a strong showing on Tuesday afternoon, playing on the road due to better field conditions in Virginia. Shenandoah struck early but the Red Devils recovered with a solid performance in an 8-4 setback.

The #1-ranked Hornets used three straight singles and a wild pitch to put an early run on the board in the first inning. Donnie Forgacs highlighted the inning with a pair of RBIs as the hosts jumped out to a 5-0 lead at the end of one.

Forgacs singled and scored in the fourth inning as Shenandoah stretched the margin to 7-0. The Red Devils answered in the top of the sixth after back-to-back doubles from Robbie Thompson (Camp Hill, Pa./Camp Hill) and David Farnham (Atherton, Calif./Menlo School) led to a pair of RBIs for senior catcher Rick Hopkins (Egg Harbor Twp., N.J./Holy Spirit).

Abel Arocho drew a two-out walk and came around on singles from Dan Cameron and Jake Loew for an 8-2 lead.

The Red Devils tallied two more in the top of the seventh, using three straight singles of their own to start the inning. Max Matilsky (Park Ridge, Ill./Maine South) and Max Brown (Annapolis, Md./McDonogh School) led-off with base-hits and Austin Sumners (W. Trenton, N.J./The Pennington School) added another to plate Matilsky. Brown came in on a sacrifice fly from Thompson to make the final score, 8-4.

Forgacs led the way for the Hornets, going 2-for-4 with two RBIs and a run scored. Robert Klinchock picked up the win on the hill, going six innings as Shenandoah improves to 15-1 on the season.

Thompson went 2-for-3 with an RBI and run scored while Brown added two hits and a run scored to lead the Red Devils as they slip to 9-8 on the season. They are in action on Thursday afternoon, traveling to Penn State Mont Alto for a 3:30 start. The game was moved up from Friday to avoid potentially bad weather.