Marlins Walk Off against Guilford
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va.—The Virginia Wesleyan College baseball team showcased its ninth inning heroics with a walk-off single from sophomore Brandon Kussmaul, which gave the Marlins a 2-1 victory over Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) rival Guilford College.
First-year John Effinger got the start on the mound for VWC and collected four strike outs in four innings of duty.
Guilford started the scoring early in the first frame when Jacob Roberts walked and then advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt. With Roberts in scoring position, Josh Shepherd singled to center field, which plated Roberts giving the Quakers an early 1-0 lead. Guilford would load the bases with two outs, but Effinger secured a timely strikeout to end the Quaker threat.
Virginia Wesleyan tied the contest in the bottom of the third on C.J. Lindsay's towering shot over the left field fence.
The Quakers would threaten in both the fourth and fifth frames, placing the go-ahead run on third base, but the Marlins' pitchers, Effinger in the fourth and Austin Gammon in the fifth, would get out of the innings unscathed.
VWC would get life in the bottom of the ninth after Taylor Erby landed on third following a throwing error from Guilford catcher Grayson Tuttle. On Erby's attempt to steal second, Tuttle overshot the infield, which landed him on third. Two batters later, Kussmaul connected on a single that sliced its way out to right field for the victory in this tightly contested ODAC matchup.
Roberts, Chuck Noble, and Mitchell Stumpo each collected two hits for Guilford (10-7/1-2). Parks Smithey pitched the whole way for the Quakers allowing one earned run and striking out nine.
Lindsay and Kussmaul had an RBI each. Nick Ott (1-0) was credited with the win after giving up one hit and no runs in two innings of relief.
Virginia Wesleyan (8-4/2-1) hosts Guilford for the second game of the two game series Sunday afternoon at 11:00 a.m. Sunday's contest was moved up in time due to potential weather in the Virginia Beach area expected later Sunday afternoon.