GREENSBORO, N.C. – Utilizing a similar script as six days ago, that being big offensive innings alongside youthful pitching, the Guilford College baseball team (15-17, 3-11 ODAC) left little doubt this time around against Johnson & Wales University- Charlotte (4-25, 0-0 C2C), run-ruling the Wildcats 18-4 in just seven innings at Edgar H. McBane Field on Tuesday afternoon.
The Quakers went with a bullpen day on the hill with
Connor Hartigan (High Point, N.C..) making his first collegiate start for Guilford. The right-hander was only asked to throw the first frame, allowing a longball but nothing more in a no decision. The victory ended up coming down to the discretion of the scorer with
Reilan Vickrey (Greensboro, N.C.) ending up as the beneficiary after throwing 3.0 allowing just one run on three hits and a hit batsman while fanning two, in an effort that upped his record to 3-0.
The Wildcats also deployed a multitude of arms, starting with Hunter Conn-Beck, who was charged with six runs, five of them earned on seven hits and a walk. He also struck out one in a losing decision, falling to 1-5 on the year.
GC sent 15 different men to the plate at least once in the contest, with 11 of them reaching base at least once as plenty of men had big days. The second spot in the lineup, occupied by
Ryne Rodrigues (Summerfield, N.C.) then
CJ Buchan (Williamsburg, Va.), reached in all-five plate appearances. Rodrigues bashed a home run and an RBI single while also getting intentionally walked, finishing with two runs scored and three driven in before Buchan drove in two tallies and scored one after working a pair of free passes.
Chris Shoemaker (Winston-Salem, N.C.) scored once and drove in three in a 2-2 game with a walk and a double.
Skyler Dark (Pleasant Garden, N.C.) also doubled in a 2-4 with a walk, scoring twice and driving in two.
Trae Pitts (Land O' Lakes, Fla.) and
Christian Chinen (Honolulu, Hawaii) scored three times each, and
Dominic Pegues (Raleigh, N.C.) produced five productive plate appearances, with a walk, a HBP, a sac fly, and two singles.
Sami Nezaj and Stetson Stack had two hits each for the guests. Nezaj was responsible for half of the JWU runs on a solo homer and an RBI double. Stack also doubled, scoring one run. Jayden Nezaj and Aiden Santos each had an RBI while Jordan Brown and Logan Howland scored single tallies.
Despite how the score finished, it would actually be a swift Johnson & Wales lead on this sweltering afternoon, as on the game's third pitch, Sami Nezaj got ahold of a Hartigan offering and drove it over the Greensboro Monster for his first homerun as a Wildcat. The lead proved to be short-lived, however, as Pitts led off with an opposite field single, then Rodrigues matched his counterpart in the two-hole, bashing a 1-0 pitch from Conn-Beck for his sixth longball of the spring, also over the Greensboro Monster, thrusting GC into the driver's seat. They were not done, either, as Dark and Pegues rocketed, prior to the inning's first-two outs, the second being a fielder's choice by Chinen. That did not end up mattering, as Shoemaker ensured the chance was not squandered by bashing the first pitch he saw over the centerfielder's head to the deepest part of the park. It plated both runs as the Quakers doubled their tallies on the double, bringing their lead to 4-1 through one.
The guests got an unearned tally back via a Jayden Nezaj walk with the bases filled in the second against
Connor Sinclair (North Augusta, S.C.) but the GC bats went right back to work in the bottom of the frame. Pitts worked a one-out walk and swiped second then Rodrigues battled back from an 0-2 hole to just flick a single through the right side of the infield, bringing the run home. The right fielder bobbled it, allowing the Quakers DH to take second and that mattered, as a couple batters later, Pegues smoked a single into center, making the advantage 6-2.
Each side traded singular runs in the third, before Guilford made it a laugher in the middle innings. Command flaws from the Wildcats bullpen proved most-significant, as GC saw six men cross the plate in the fourth then another five in the fifth, compiling just three hits across the two frames. It was not even JWU errors that plagued them, just good old fashion wildness with eight walks and four hit batters across those two frames alone, including a quartet of free passes issued with the bases loaded. The Quakers unloaded their bench throughout the proceedings, and eventually had the chance to polish off the game early via run rule. Despite allowing a run in the top of the seventh,
Brayden Kurk (Weddington, N.C.) ensured this came to fruition, as the score finished at 18-4.
Guilford is right back to McBane Field for their final home midweek matchup of the spring, hosting Averett University for an integral Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) clash tomorrow, April 15
th, starting at 3:00 PM.
#GoQuakes
