Marlin Bats Silence Quakers

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. -- The Virginia Wesleyan College baseball team scored 20 runs against Guilford College on Saturday to secure its first ODAC doubleheader sweep of the season.

Game 1: 15-6 Virginia Wesleyan Victory

Guilford scored the first two runs of the game, but the Marlins posted the next 11 to take a commanding 11-2 lead into the bottom of the sixth.

An error in the second inning saw the Marlins cut the deficit to 2-1 before a Justin Erby sacrifice fly in the third evened the score at two.

Jimmy Ziemke and Brandon Kussmaul provided RBI singles in the fourth while C.J. Lindsay brought home Corey King on an RBI groundout to put the Marlins up 5-2.

Randy Niesz and Daniel Petro contributed RBI singles in the fifth to go with lone RBI from Lindsay and Ziemke to continue driving the Marlin lead up to 9-2.

The Marlins kept the pressure on in the top of the sixth when Justin Erby singled in from of a Neisz double to lead off the inning. Taylor Erby lofted a fly ball to right that allowed Justin Erby to score before King chased Neisz home with a double to make it 11-2 before the Quakers would score again.

Virginia Wesleyan scored in the seventh, eighth, and ninth innings to keep the Quakers from mounting a comeback. VWC scored in all but the first inning of the first game of Saturday's twinbill.

King went 4-for-5 with four runs scored while Justin Erby had three hits and four runs to go with three hits each from Neisz and Ziemke.

Game 2: 5-2 Virginia Wesleyan Victory

Virginia Wesleyan struck first in the second game when Kussmaul reached on a fielder's choice in the second inning to bring home Ziemke for a 1-0 lead.

The Marlins put an exclamation point on the game in the third inning when Justin Erby homered to right field, bringing home Deon Hammond who walked to lead off the frame.

VWC tallied another run in the top of the sixth to go up 4-0 before Guilford cut the deficit in half in the bottom of the frame on a two-RBI double by Trevor Denton.

Chance Pauley and Riley Koonce pitched two innings out of the bullpen to keep the Quakers at bay. Koonce struck out one in the ninth for his fourth save.

Nick Bay (3-1) surrendered two earned runs over seven innings while striking out three to earn the win.

Neisz singled in the fifth to extend his career-best hitting streak to 23 games dating back to last season.

Virginia Wesleyan (10-10/3-4) will host No. 10 Tufts University (7-1) Sunday for a noon start.