BUENA VISTA, Va. – Skyler Dark (Pleasant Garden, N.C.) surpassed the 150-career hits mark with his 14^th multi-hit performance of the spring, igniting the offense of the Guilford College baseball team (11-13, 2-7 ODAC) in a rout of Southern Virginia University (6-18, 3-5 USA South), 15-5, at Charlie Manuel Field on Tuesday afternoon.

The second Quaker to reach the 150 mark in the team's last-two gamedays, Dark becomes just the 23^rd all-time to accumulate that many hits in the cardinal and grey, joining current teammate, Rylan Smith (Archdale, N.C.), as well as past colleagues, Isaiah Hairston '23, MISM 24 and Michael Sumner '24 in the club.

The headliner any other day, Ranes Denman (Houston, Texas) was really impressive in his first-collegiate start for the Quakers, despite not lasting long enough to qualify for the victory. Finishing 4.0 innings, his six strikeouts are tied for the second-most by a Quaker so far this spring, reaching that total without issuing a walk or HBP and allowing just five hits leading to three runs, though only one was earned. Instead, Reilan Vickrey (Greensboro, N.C.) earned the victory improving to 2-0 with 2.0 innings of adventuresome, yet shutout relief allowing two hits and an HBP while striking out three.

It was a true bullpen day for the Knights, deploying roughly a pitcher per inning with James Horsley serving as the opener, and GC tagged him, racking up four runs on four hits and a couple walks. He never ended up off the hook, taking the defeat to fall to 0-1.

A ton of Quakers had big days as they piled on a season-high 19 hits on the whole with those being distributed across nine different men including eight starters. Leading the way was Reese Baker (Ashland, Va.) as the senior finished 4-6 with an RBI and a run scored. Christian Chinen (Honolulu, Hawaii) collected a 3-4 showing plus a walk, scoring three times while Chris Shoemaker (Winston-Salem, N.C.) also had three hits and a walk, albeit in five ABs, scoring once and driving in two. The lone GC starter without a hit on the day, Caleb Coggins (Trinity, N.C.), instead reached via four walks, the most by a Quaker in a game since 2024, scoring twice and driving in one run. Dark and Ryne Rodrigues (Summerfield, N.C.) were the leading run producers, with Dark finishing 2-5 with a triple and a walk, scoring once and driving in three while Rodrigues only had one hit, but made it count by going deep, adding a sac fly and a walk, scoring twice and driving in three in the game.

Ben Agnew and Tad Peterson had over half the Knight hits themselves, all of them singles, picking up three knocks and scoring one run each while Agnew also contributed an RBI. Marcelino Leonardo Jr. had the only other RBI for SVU on a double, scoring once. Mason Jones also doubled and scored for the hosts.

Guilford wasted little time staking themselves to an advantage in this one, getting immediate traffic against Horsley, with a lengthy, nine-pitch walk worked by Shoemaker followed by a more-abbreviated five-offering free pass taken by Rodrigues with both advancing into scoring position on a wild pitch. Skyler Dark followed, picking up career hit number-149 in the most Skyler Dark fashion imaginable, hooking a rocket inside of first and into the rightfield corner for his ODAC-leading fourth triple of the year, bringing home a pair of runs. Dominic Pegues (Raleigh, N.C.) picked him up by lining a shoulder-high offering cleanly into center field, proceeding to steal second then come in when Ethan George (Burlington, N.C.) slipped a single through the middle and for the third-consecutive game, the Quakers had a lead before taking the field on defense, 4-0.

Contrary to Saturday, GC would not allow a counter from the hosts. Seth Lloyd dumped a jam-job single over second then stole a bag against Denman, but the freshman was unfazed, picking up consecutive K's to end the inning and sending the offense back to add on in the second. A long at-bat got it started again with Coggins fighting back from a 1-2 hole to take an eight-pitch base on balls. Two batters later, Rodrigues broke out his nine-iron, golfing a 1-1 pitch for a low line drive, just clearing the leftfield fence for his fourth longball of the spring. In the third, the Quakers tacked on a couple more with Smith singling to center and Chinen beating an infield hit, putting two on with one out. Baker brought home his first run of the season, dropping a single into center then Shoemaker followed suit, flipping a knock into left to make it 8-0 at the end of three.

After working around a couple errors to throw a zero on the board for the first time in the top of the fourth, Southern Virginia broke through in the bottom of the frame. Consecutive hits by Agnew and Peterson put two aboard with one out, as Denman got a strikeout then got a pitch away from ending the inning, but Leonardo Jr. rifled a single under Smith's glove at third to bring in their first run. Fanning Brooks Burdette after, Denman should have been out of the inning right there, but with the ball in the dirt, Baker had to throw to first to complete the K, but ended up throwing it down the line, allowing two runs to score and the lead to be cut to 8-3.

Guilford put this one out of reach in the top of the sixth though. Loading the bases on singles by Smith and Baker on either side of the first out and a Chinen walk, Coggins worked his third free pass of the day, forcing in a run. Shoemaker brought in another on an infield hit that the second baseman Burdette impressively got to up the middle, but he ended up flipping his whole glove in the direction of the bag instead of just the ball. Rodrigues drove in a run with a sacrifice fly before the milestone, as Dark slipped a single through the middle for the 150^th hit of his collegiate career. More importantly the landmark hit brought home a run as the guests extended their lead to 12-3.

SVU built a huge chance to get back in the game in the bottom of the frame, loading the bases on hits by Agnew and Peterson before Robert Stempin got plunked. Vickery found a way out of it, though, fanning Leonardo Jr. and Burdette before a Conner Robley liner found a glove, keeping the tallies where they were.

Chinen scored on a wild pitch in the top of the seventh, getting the game into run-rule territory in the top of the seventh. In the bottom of the frame, Zack Geertson singled then Mason Jones doubled to deep right-center, though a terrific Chinen-George-Baker relay kept the run off the board for the time being. Instead, Agnew got a single to fall just in front of Pegues in left to score the run and prevent the contest from ending early.

Instead, this one played through the ninth as each team unloaded their benches. GC got a couple more on the first-collegiate hit for Gage Tawney (Charleston, W.Va.), a two-run double in the top of the ninth, then SVU got an unearned tally in the bottom half, bringing the final score to 15-5.

The Quakers open April play and open a huge, competitive week of Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) play at McBane Field tomorrow afternoon, Wednesday, April 1^st, welcoming (RV) Roanoke College at 3:00 PM.

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