SALEM, Va. -- It turns out that lightning struck twice, or quite a few times, actually both on an off the diamond at Salem Memorial Field on Tuesday night, but the Guilford College baseball team was defeated by Roanoke College, 5-3 in Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) play.
With the loss, the Quakers fall to 9-15 on the year, 2-6 against conference competition while the Maroons get back to the break-even mark of 11-11, 7-1 against ODAC opponents.
Jackson Marcellus (Chapel Hill, N.C.) got the ball in and tossed 2.0 scoreless innings allowing three baserunners and fanning two before being forced to exit due to the lengthy weather delay. The same was true for RC starter Jackson Murphy albeit he did not record a K in the book. So, the game came down to the bullpens with
Jacob Phillips (Browns Summit, N.C.) taking the loss allowing three runs, two earned, over 2.0 innings to take the loss and fall to 0-1.
Maroon hurler Brae Farrell went 5.1 innings, allowing just a single run on four hits, improving to 1-0. Anthony Sullivan got the save for Roanoke, pitching the last frame and a third, striking out two and allowing a run to lock up the victory for the hosts.
The top of the order provided most of the offensive push for Guilford, as both Michael Sumner (Mooresville, N.C.) and Isaiah Hairston (High Point, N.C.) were the only Quakers to record multiple hits. Aaron Williams (Mocksville, N.C.) had just the lone hit, but drove in two runs on the rainy night. Nate Prince drove in two runs on two hits for the hosts.
The starters each worked around a hit and a hit batsman in the first, then a walk in the second across a couple of uneventful innings before mother nature intervened, causing a near two-hour lightning delay, after which things picked up. The Maroons took the lead with Jonny Wall tripling and Tucker Schiavoni drawing a walk. As the latter man swiped second, the pickoff throw got away allowing the run to score.
Guilford replied directly back, as Nick Boles (Madison, N.C.) led off the fourth with a walk, and stole second base thereafter. Reese Baker (Ashland, Va.)helped to tie the game after a series of errors from the Roanoke infield. Amidst the chaos, Boles was able to advance to home plate and knot the contest at one apiece. For the hosts, Hayden Giordano singled and came all the way around to score on a two-bagger off the bat of Cayden Freels. Following a productive out, Freels, in turn, would score on a squeeze bunt by Prince making it 3-1 Roanoke.
The Maroons tagged on another run in the bottom of the seventh, as their batters worked through Quaker pitchers Griffin Icenhower (Kernersville, N.C.), then Chase Wade (Archdale, N.C.) to eventually drive in their fourth after a sacrifice fly.
Needing a spark back on offense the next go-around, Guilford got runners to second and third after a series of fielders' choices and groundouts, in clear sight of making noise in the frame. As was the case in previous innings, the Quakers left runners on base once more, keeping the score at 4-2 in Roanoke's favor. RC extended their lead to three as their offense was due up. Wade was able to get two batters out after giving up a leadoff double, but could not hold utilityman Nate Prince off; he singled to left field to drive his teammate in.
Late-game heroics were a must for Guilford at this stage, and they got a lifeline. Sumner singled to first and eventually made it around to third base after a series of steals and wild pitches. Hairston popped out, then Williams grounded out to score the shortstop to make the lead only 5-3. However, the deficit was too much to overcome, as George struck out to give Roanoke the victory.
GC returns to their home diamond on Saturday to host a pre-Easter doubleheader against Hampden-Sydney beginning at noon.
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