RADFORD, Va. – A six-run eighth proved unsurpassable for the Guilford College baseball team (18-18, 6-12 ODAC), as they fell to Roanoke College (21-15, 8-10 ODAC), 12-7 in Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) action at the Radford University Baseball Field on Tuesday evening.

Neither starter factored into this one's pitching decisions. Marcello Ricigliano (Kernersville, N.C.) lasted 6.0 frames allowing six runs, all earned, on 14 hits albeit only alongside one walk, fanning a trio for the Quakers. His mound-mate, Hayden Giordano, surpassed his season innings total in this start alone, completing 5.0 innings allowing five runs, four earned, on seven hits, a hit batsman, and a walk, striking out one in a no decision.

This one ended up coming down to the bullpens with Ryan Wallace throwing the final 4.0 innings allowing two runs, one earned on two hits and a walk against three strikeouts to earn the victory and improve to 2-1. Stratton Barwick (Siler City, N.C.) threw a clean first inning of work, but got battered in his second frame, allowing four runs on four hits and a walk to fall to 5-2.

Ryne Rodrigues (Summerfield, N.C.) kept tearing the cover off the ball, hitting a pair of doubles, and another home run, also stealing a base, and scoring a trio of runs on the night. Grayson Hobson (Quinton, Va.) was solid, finishing 2-4 with a double and a run scored. Christian Chinen (Honolulu, Hawaii) and Gavin Fleming (Gibsonville, N.C.) drove in two runs apiece with Chinen finishing 1-4 with a sacrifice and a run scored while Fleming went 1-4. Rylan Smith (Archdale, N.C.) drove in the other Quaker run with a walk.

Guilford had no answers for Michael Hetzel, who finished 5-5 with a pair of home runs and an RBI single, resulting in five RBIs. The flip of the Maroon lineup was also particularly troublesome, with ninth hitter Danny Ferguson going 3-3 with a double, a walk, a sacrifice fly, two runs scored, and two driven in. Then at the top, Nate Prince finished 4-5 with a sacrifice, scoring once and driving in two tallies. Kyle Tyrrell walked on top of a 2-4 at the plate, scoring three runs.

Guilford jumped all over Giordano in the first, putting two in scoring position right away as Chinen reached on an error ahead of a Rodrigues double. After the first out was recorded, Dominic Pegues (Raleigh, N.C.) got hit by a 3-2 pitch, filling the bases, and Smith grabbed the lead for the guests, working back from a 1-2 hole to earn a seven-pitch walk and force in the game's initial run. Fleming followed by ripping a grounder the other way and through the 5-6 hole, plating a pair and giving Guilford a 3-0 lead before the Maroons stepped into the batters box.

Roanoke worked back in the bottom of the second. The bottom of the lineup did the legwork with seventh hitter, Tyrrell beating an infield hit with one out before Jack Fehlner doubled to left-center to put two in scoring position. Ferguson brought in a tally at the turn of the lineup with a sacrifice fly and Prince singled to bring in a second run and make it a 3-2 game.

Insurance runs came in the top of the fourth for GC, with Trevor Myers (Eastampton, N.J.) getting it started by beating an infield hit toward short. Two batters later, Hobson cranked his first collegiate extra-base hit, glancing off and over the glove of Tyler Galloway in right and Chinen picked both men up, torching a single back through the box to advance the lead. Guilford had trouble really throwing the knockout punch against Giordano and the Maroons, though, and once again, the bottom of the Roanoke order responded. Tyrell doubled and Ferguson singled, placing men on the corners, flipping the lineup over and Prince capitalized with his second RBI-single of the game. While a passed ball would advance both runners, including the potential tying run, into scoring position, Ricigliano would keep them right there, picking up a big strikeout of Noah Donaho before inducing a groundout to maintain the 5-3 lead.

Hetzel narrowed it to a one-run game, driving the first pitch of the bottom of the fifth over the right-center field fence for his second home run of the season, but despite a single and steal putting the tying run on second with one out again, it would not be until the sixth when the Maroons finally got back even. Ricigliano's trouble at the turn on this day festered, allowing a leadoff double to Ferguson followed by a Prince single to put men on the corners. The senior righty picked up his second K of Donaho in a big spot, but on a weird play on which RC appeared to have both a hit-and-run and steal-and-stop on simultaneously, Liam Murphy put the ball in play, grounding out to short, scoring the tying run and advancing the go-ahead tally into scoring position. Hetzel cashed in with a run-scoring single and Roanoke had overtaken their first lead of the evening, 6-5 through six.

The see-saw continued, as in the top of the seventh, Rodrigues ripped a one-out double and after the second man was retired, he made a break for third, stealing the bag and then scoring as Ferguson yanked his throw down the leftfield line, leveling the score at six.

Unfortunately, things unwound for Guilford in the eighth. With Barwick on the bump, it was, you guessed it, the turn of the lineup that lit the spark as Ferguson reached safely for the third time, drawing a walk before getting sacrificed to second then Donaho drove him in with a single. All that was proven unnecessary as after a Murphy hit, Hetzel cracked his second home run of the game and third of the year, a three-run shot, to extend the advantage. Hector Orozco pinch hit after that, singling, stealing two bases during the proceedings of a Tyrrell walk, and scoring on Rodrigues' first error of his two years as a Quaker. Ferguson's third hit of the game drove in yet another run, completing the six-run frame. Rodrigues cranked his ninth home run of the spring in the home half, but it was fruitless, merely narrowing the score to a 12-7 final.

Needing a sweep this weekend just to give themselves a chance at a postseason berth, the Quakers first return to Greensboro tomorrow afternoon, venturing over to Ted Leonard Park for a road game against crosstown rival, Greensboro College. First pitch on Wednesday, April 22^nd will be 4:00 PM.

#GoQuakes