GREENSBORO, N.C. – It was an afternoon to remember for freshman Ethan George (Burlington, N.C.), who collected four hits, three of them for extra bases, and driving in eight runs for the Guilford College baseball team who bested Greensboro College in a slugfest, 23-7 on Tuesday afternoon at McBane Field.
With the win, Guilford wins their fourth-straight against their crosstown rivals, including the last two matchups by a combined score of 47-10, and improve to 5-6 on the season. The Pride, meanwhile, fall to 9-3.
For George, his eight RBI's put him in rarified air for Guilford as just one of three players, and the only freshman, since 1999 when online records begin to drive in that many runs in a single game. The last to do it of any age was Corey Wallace '14 who plated eight runs against Virginia Wesleyan on March 1, 2014. He finished 4-of-6 and a triple shy of the cycle with two doubles while also launching the first home run of his career, while scoring twice.
Jacob Phillips (Brown Summit, N.C.) got the mid-week start for the Quakers, throwing the first 2.0-plus innings, allowing one run, it was earned, on five hits and a walk. He did not qualify for the win, instead it was awarded to Tanner Royals (High Point, N.C.) who entered and finished the third and ended up going 3.0-plus innings allowing four runs, all earned on, six hits and a walk against two strikeouts to improve to 1-1. Hunter Anderson threw the first 4.0-plus innings allowing six runs, all earned, on five hits walking three against a trio of K's to fall to 0-1 for Greensboro.
The offense posted their third occurrence of batting around in their last four games, and like the other two instances, it was the fifth inning when it all happened, as this time it was ten runs across 15 men sent to the plate with eight hits and four walks without an error committed by the Pride in the frame. Eight of the nine Guilford starters had at least one hit and all of them reached base at least once. Eight Quakers also scored multiple times while five separate players having two or more RBIs in the game. Aaron Williams (Mocksville, N.C.) hit his second homer of the year as a part of a two-of-five showing with three runs scored and three driven in. Nick Boles (Madison, N.C.) also went deep and had a double. Isaiah Hairston (High Point, N.C.) reached safely in five of his seven plate appearances, including three walks, coming around to score a career-high four times. Alex Vasquez and Shane Garrett each went deep for the guests while Chris Le and Kai Hayen had three hits apiece.
Guilford jumped on the board right away against Anderson. Michael Sumner (Mooresville, N.C.) legged out an infield hit over the mound, advancing to second on a wild pitch, then to third on a flyout, but none of that would matter. Williams would step in and tag the 1-0 offering over the wall next to the scoreboard in left-center. Just like that, 2-0 good guys.
The Pride got one back in the third. As the lineup wrapped around from nine to one, they loaded the bases against Phillips via a walk, a single, and a bobbled bunt. Brody Gardner then rolled over a potential double play ball to third, and while a little trouble on the transfer prevented that, Guilford got the pivot man as a run scored. They would also need to only wait one more batter to get that double play. Nick Marshall popped one into shallow center where Adam Anderson (Gastonia, N.C.) made the grab with ease than unleashed the cannon with a one-hop throw to cut down the runner, Le, trying to score.
The hosts doubled-up their scoring output in the bottom of the frame. Hairston and Chase Wade (Archdale, N.C.) drew walks and George brought them both home on a double.
Things got wild in the fifth. Greensboro College got one in the top of the inning on a single by Marshall before the Quakers broke things open in the home half. Things started innocently enough, Sumner singled, Hairston accepted his second free pass, then following a pitching change both advanced on a wild pitch and then crossed the plate on bloop singles by Williams and Wade respectively. George then ambushed the first pitch he saw from Nick Stegura, clearing the Greensboro Monster in left for his first career homerun. Boles followed suit with his first longball of the season to a similar spot as Williams' earlier, and also on a 1-0 offering, as in the span of three pitches the Quakers lead doubled from 6-2 to 10-2. After another change on the hill, the Pride got the first two outs of the frame. Carter Blum (McLeansville, N.C.) singled and scored via two wild pitches with a balk sandwiched in between. Walks on either side a Hairston single ensued with the first runner, Sumner, coming home on a wild pitch by Greensboro's fourth different wing of the inning. Wade took a base on balls to reload the bases as the parade of relievers out of the Pride bullpen continued, and the scoring continued with George hitting the first pitch he saw for the second time in the inning, and driving in multiple runs for the second time in the inning, dumping a single into center to plate a pair. The Quakers first double-digit frame of the season concluded with a baserunning miscue, but the lead had ballooned to 14-2.
A couple of Greensboro College dingers got them back within ten as Shane Garrett hit his first of the year, a two-run pinch-hit shot in the sixth, then Alex Vasquez hit a three-run homer for his second long ball of the season, bringing the tallies to 14-7. Following the Vasquez long ball, two other Pride batters reached as things were slowly starting to slip, before Head Coach Zach Booker had seen enough, dropping the DH and bringing in Wade to pitch, he settled things down over the final 2.2 innings. Meanwhile, the Quakers piled it on in the seventh and eighth. They put together a six-run frame in the former that included a George RBI double and a Colin McGuire (Wilkesboro, N.C.) two-run single before finalizing the scoring with three in the eighth, bringing the final tallies to 23-7.
Guilford has two more in their, to this point, season-long homestand out of the gates as they will now play a pair against Allegheny College on Thursday due to rain on Wednesday. First pitch of the first one will be at noon.
#GoQuakes