Salem, VA  -- Senior right-hander Joe Dooley (Chantilly, VA/Chantilly) struck out 12 in his school record-tying 12th win of the season to lead Guilford past Virginia Wesleyan, 8-5, in the opening round of the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) Baseball Tournament Thursday night at Memorial Stadium.

The win sends second-seeded Guilford (29-11) into a winners' bracket matchup with fourth-seeded Eastern Mennonite Friday (04/26) at noon. Third-seeded Virginia Wesleyan (22-17) plays top-seeded Bridgewater in an elimination game at 3:30 Friday. The Eagles lost to Eastern Mennonite, 20-5, in Friday's first game.

Dooley (12-2) recorded six of his last nine outs via strikeout and fanned the last four batters he faced. His 12 wins lead all Division III pitchers and match the Guilford standard set by Larry Jackson's '76 12-4 season in 1976. Dooley also equaled the Quakers' record of 10 complete games in a season set by Tampa Bay Devil Rays' farmhand Chad Coward '00 in 2000. Dooley raised his season strikeout total to a career-high 107, which matches Coward's 2000 whiffs as the fourth-highest total in Guilford's 110-year history.

The Marlins touched Dooley for four runs in the fourth inning on a leadoff homer by senior Jeff Butler (Virginia Beach, VA/First Colonial) two-run blast by senior Josh Kreiser (Lebanon, PA/North Lebanon), his team-leading 10th bomb of the season. The home runs helped Virginia Wesleyan to a 4-2 lead.

Guilford answered with five runs in the home fourth as the Quakers sent 11 batters to the plate against Virginia Wesleyan starter Casey Ireland (Virginia Beach, VA/Green Run) (5-3) and reliever Lance Leone (Saylorsburg, PA/Pleasant Valley). Guilford took advantage of Leone's early wildness, scoring three runs on a walk and two hit batsmen with the bases loaded.

The Marlins mounted a final comeback in the eighth inning as senior Evan Spivey (Suffolk, VA/Nansemond River) singled home Butler, who led off the inning with a double, and pulled within 7-5. Spivey reached third base before Dooley fanned rookie catcher Mike Supa (Virginia Beach, VA/First Colonial) to end the inning.

Sophomore outfielder A.J. McCauley (Pittsburgh, PA/Plum) led Guilford's offense with four hits and broke the school's single-season hits mark in the process. His 65 hits this year surpass the former record of 63 set by Toshinori Sakamoto '98 in 1998. Junior R.J. Marks (Browns Summit, NC/Northeast Guilford) went 2-4 with two runs batted in for Guilford. Classmates Luke Kempton (Greensboro, NC/Page) and Brad Franklin (Greensboro, NC/Southern Guilford) added two hits apiece.

Butler went 2-3 and scored twice for the Marlins and Spivey added two hits. Leone settled down to give the Marlins a boost out of the bullpen with four and two-thirds innings of two-hit, one-run ball.

Guilford, ranked sixth in the most recent ABCA South Region Division III poll, has won 11 of its last 12 games, including four straight. The Quakers' 29 wins are one shy of the 1993 team's school-record 30-12 campaign. The 1993 unit won Guilford's last ODAC Tournament title.