GREENSBORO, N.C. – It has been a good couple of days on offense for Quaker b-ball teams, as after men's basketball scored a season-high in points last night, the Guilford College baseball team must have been inspired, matching the feat with their best showing at the plate on the young season in a 15-10 victory over Brevard College on Saturday afternoon at McBane Field.
With the win, Guilford improved to 3-5 on the season while the Tornados fell to 5-5.
Marcello Ricigliano (Kernersville, N.C.) continued his terrific start to the season, and while he did allow three runs, all earned, across 5.0+ innings, surrendering nine hits and a walk along the way, he fanned four and did enough to get the win and improve to 2-1. Connor Crosby got the start and took the loss for the guests, falling to 1-3 after going 4.0 innings allowing five runs, all earned, on ten hits, and a walk, while striking out three.
The Quaker offense was clicking, bashing season-highs in hits with 18, runs with 15, and RBI with 14, while coming up just one shy of their season-best mark in walks with eight.
Every starter with the exception of Devin Tonkins (Greensboro, N.C.) got at least one hit, though even he reached three times on a pair of walks and a hit by pitch, scoring each time on base. Isaiah Hairston (High Point, N.C), Aaron Williams (Mocksville, N.C.), Chase Wade (Archdale, N.C.), and Nick Boles (Madison, N.C.) collected three hits apiece with the latter not getting retired across his five plate appearances, scoring thrice. Wade, Williams, and Michael Sumner (Mooresville, N.C.) drove in three runs each with Wade collecting a pair of doubles.
The Brevard offense was solid too with all of their starters collecting at least one knock. Lucas Granata finished 3-of-6 while driving in three with Logan Clark finishing one short of his RBI total on a 3-for-4 afternoon that included a triple and a run scored.
The most interesting thing to occur in the first two innings of play was Sumner getting hit by a batted ball on the basepaths as a runner, as Ricigliano faced the minimum and Crosby faced two over that number, but both offenses woke up in the third. C.P. Pyle led off with a double then Colson Miller reached on a single that just got beyond the outstretched arm of Sumner in shallow left, although the angle made for a difficult read for Pyle and he opted to not advance. A sacrifice bunt attempt by Logan Sawyer was deterred as he put it right back to Ricigliano who whipped it to third to get the lead runner. Another soft single, this one a pop up that just settled inside the right field line, loaded the bases. A sacrifice fly by Clark and an RBI single by Cade Oehler down the third base line plated runs, but Ricigiano limited the damage.
Guilford evened things in the bottom of the frame. Singles by Carter Blum (McLeansville, N.C.) and Hairston put runners on the corners with two outs. Knocks by Williams and Ethan George (Burlington, N.C.) brought runs home, making the score two all. They then took the lead in the fourth. A Boles single opened the rally before he was able to advance all the way to third when Crosby threw a pickoff attempt down the right field line. Adam Anderson (Gastonia, N.C.) singled under the third baseman's glove plating the run and putting the hosts in front. Tonkins drew a free pass, before a double steal, sacrifice fly, and a Hairston RBI single extended things to 5-2.
After the Tornados got one back in the top of the fifth, the Quakers broke things wide open in the home half as they took advantage of the Brevard bullpen. A pitching change brought Hatcher Bailey to the mound and he struggled. Wade greeted the freshman with a double and George singled and stole second before Bailey lost the strike zone from there. Boles worked an eight-pitch walk to load the bases, then Bailey threw one to the backstop to bring in a run. Another walk, this one drawn by Anderson, reloaded the bags and brought a swift end to Bailey's outing without getting an out. Matthew Evans entered and had a similar aversion to the strike zone, issuing consecutive free passes to Tonkins and Blum to force in runs. Sumner rolled over what could have been a crucial double play ball, but it was booted by the second baseman Sawyer although it kicked right to the bag to get the force out. A run still scored on play, as well as on Hairston's second run-scoring plate appearance, this one a SAC fly. In an inning full of great plate appearances, the best was yet to come, as Williams battled for a dozen pitches to earn a walk. Wade's second two-bagger of the frame brought home two more runs and put the finishing touches on their highest-scoring inning of the season thus far.
The Quakers got into run-rule territory with a tally in the bottom of the sixth on a Sumner chopper through the left side that brought the score to 13-3. Brevard, down to their final strike at one point, cobbled together a pair on an Oehler triple and a Vasquez single to avoid the dubious feat. They got one more in the eighth with Williams driving in two with a double in the bottom of the inning. Things got a little crazy as the Tornados plated four in the top of the ninth, but Stratton Barwick (Siler City, N.C.) eventually polished things off with the score finalizing at 15-10.
Guilford welcomes Brevard back tomorrow afternoon for a doubleheader. First pitch of game one is set for noon.
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