GREENSBORO, N.C. – Riding high with a scorching finish to the regular season, and top conference finish in over a decade, the sixth-seeded Guilford College baseball team enters the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) tournament with high hopes as they draw a familiar foe, third-seeded Shenandoah University who concluded the Quakers' season a year ago with a sweep in this round. The weekend will be a three-game series played across Saturday and Sunday with game one on Saturday at 2:00 PM, then games two and three, if necessary, will be a doubleheader on Sunday beginning at noon.

The Quakers may well be the last team any of the upper seeds wanted to draw in the opening round as they are red-hot at the moment. Their 20-20 record is fine, as is their 12-10 mark in conference play, but they have been peaking at the right time. Since the calendar turned to April, GC has rattled off ten wins against just four losses, including seven of their last nine. Most of that damage has come in conference play too, going 10-4 in league play since dropping a midweek contest to Roanoke on March 27. On the other hand, the Hornets are reeling. Since their split with Guilford on March 11, they are just 11-13 and have dropped 12 of their final 19 contests. They completed the regular season with an overall record of 25-15, 14-8 against conference competition.

"We had a great April, really spring boarded us into the conference tournament," Head Coach Zach Booker said. "Now everything is one game at a time, every game is a game seven, and we need to play with that level of intensity."

 

Regular Season Statistics (ODAC LEADER):
Stats	No. 6 Guilford	No. 3 Shenandoah
Record (Overall)	20-20	25-15
Record (ODAC)	12-10	14-8
PITCHING
Team ERA	6.55	5.60
Team WHIP	1.72	1.65
Batting Average Against	.314	.285
K/BB Ratio	2.16	1.46
HITTING
Runs Per Game	8.0	8.8
Batting Average	.308	.327
Slugging Percentage	.445	.497
Home Runs Per Game	0.83	1.23
Steals Per Game	1.40	1.75
FIELDING
Errors Per Game	1.55	0.88
Fielding Percentage	.956	.977

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 














 

Individual Player Statistics (ODAC LEADER):
Stats	No. 6 Guilford	No. 3 Shenandoah
PITCHING
Win-Loss Record	Marcello Ricigliano (4-5)	Jacob Bell (7-2)
Innings Pitched	Marcello Ricigliano (60.0)	Jacob Bell (80.2)
Strikeouts	Marcello Ricigliano (45)	Jacob Bell (67)
ERA (Min. 20 IP)	Chase Wade (2.13)	Joey Mitchell (1.45)
WHIP (Min. 20 IP)	Chase Stewart (1.00)	Joey Mitchell (1.06)
Batting Average Against (Min. 20 IP)	Chase Wade (.198)	Joey Mitchell (.200)
Saves	Chase Wade (4)	Joey Mitchell (3)
HITTING
Batting Average (Min. 100 AB)	Isaiah Hairston (.426)	Pierce Bucher (.397)
Slugging Percentage (Min. 100 AB)	Isaiah Hairston (.748)	Pierce Bucher (.638)
OPS (Min. 100 AB)	Isaiah Hairston (1.276)	Pierce Bucher (1.081)
Runs Scored	Michael Sumner (51)	Frankie Ritter (50)
Runs Batted In	Isaiah Hairston (57)	Chandler Ballinger (43)
Home Runs	Isaiah Hairston (11)	Haden Madagan (9)
Steals-Attempts	Michael Sumner (12-12)	Frankie Ritter (15-19)
FIELDING
Assists	Michael Sumner (102)	Frankie Ritter (119)
Putouts	Isaiah Hairston (269)	Chandler Ballenger (292)

Projected Starters
"We have gotta minimize the free passes," Booker said regarding his pitching staff. "And defensively we need to take care of the baseball, make the routine plays."

Projected Lineups
Guilford

1. RF- Skyler Dark (.359/.420/.566, 52 H, 4 HR, 7-7 SB)
2. SS- Michael Sumner (.369/.454/.439, 58 H, 1 HR, 12-12 SB)
3. 1B- Isaiah Hairston (.426/.538/.748, 66 H, 11 HR, 0-0 SB)
4. C- Aaron Williams (.290/.396/.464, 40 H, 5 HR, 0-0 SB)
5. 3B- Chase Wade (.313/.373/.435, 41 H, 2 HR, 1-3 SB)
6. 2B- Ethan George (.365/.403/.474, 50 H, 2 HR, 5-6 SB)
7. LF- Jordan Burrough (.276/.423/.461, 21 H, 3 HR, 1-1 SB)
8. DH- Grayson Tudor (.305/.461/.424, 18 H, 1 HR, 6-6 SB)
9. CF- Nick Boles (.256/.367/.376, 32 H, 4 HR, 7-8 SB)

Shenandoah

1. SS- Frankie Ritter (.370/.465/.503, 61 H, 3 HR, 15-19 SB)
2. CF- Jaime Padilla (.328/.425/.440, 44 H, 3 HR, 12-13 SB)
3. 1B- Chandler Ballenger (.379/.453/.510, 55 H, 3 HR, 2-2 SB)
4. 3B- Pearce Bucher (.397/.443/.638, 56 H, 8 HR, 6-9 SB)
5. RF- Gavin Horning (.318/.418/.553, 42 H, 6 HR, 10-14 SB)
6. DH- Connor Houser (.362/.439/.534, 21 H, 2 HR, 0-0 SB)
7. LF- Haden Madagan (.290/.381/.559, 42 H, 9 HR, 6-11 SB)
8. C- Brody Pickette (.284/.421/.463, 27 H, 4 HR, 1-2 SB)
9. 2B- Matt House (.353/.443/.471, 24 H, 2 HR, 6-7 SB)

"Find ways stringing together quality at-bats, get on-base consecutively, and drive guys in with two outs," Booker said regarding his offense. "They (Shenandoah) have some really good arms so we just need to make sure we find a way to string together quality at-bats in a row."

The then No. 1 nationally ranked Hornets made the trip to McBane Field for a doubleheader on Saturday, March 16^th, and the Quakers gave them all they could handle on that day. In a truly wild afternoon of baseball, the two teams split with the Hornets outlasting GC 4-1 in 13 innings in the opener before the hosts held off SU 23-22 in a contest that ended up shortened due to sunlight.

The two squads will duel in a best-of-three weekend series with game one on Saturday afternoon beginning at 2:00 PM followed by game two on Sunday with a scheduled time of first pitch of noon. A third game, if necessary, will occur after the Sunday matchup, likely around 3:00 PM.

#GoQuakes