ASHLAND, Va. – The Guilford College baseball team (19-19, 6-13 ODAC) was eliminated from Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) Tournament contention on Saturday afternoon, taking a defeat to Randolph-Macon College (21-12, 12-7 ODAC), 10-2 at Hugh Stephens Field at Estes Park.
Tanner Royals (High Point, N.C.) saw his breakout junior season conclude in an unfortunate manner, allowing six runs, all earned, on 13 hits and a walk against six strikeouts in 5.0 innings of work, falling to 0-3 on the season.
GC's only offensive production was against Yellow Jacket starter Peter Phillips in one of his 8.0 innings on the hill allowing two runs, both earned, on six hits and a walk opposite six K's to up his mark to 6-1.
The Guilford offense was not able to get in a groove as a whole, collecting just seven total hits, five of which came from
Christian Chinen (Honolulu, Hawaii) and
Rylan Smith (Archdale, N.C.). Chinen finished 2-2 while Smith was the most-productive Quaker of the day, finishing 3-4 with a double, driving in a run.
Ryne Rodrigues (Summerfield, N.C.) and
Skyler Dark (Pleasant Garden, N.C.) each had singular hits, Dark's a two-bagger, scoring one run each.
Dominic Pegues (Raleigh, N.C.) was responsible for the other GC RBI on a sacrifice fly.
Six of the seven starting Yellow Jackets compiled multiple hits in the game. The turn of the lineup lived on base with leadoff man Jack Bowles, finishing 3-4 with a couple walks, stealing four bases, and scoring two runs. Meanwhile, ninth hitter, Justin Lanouette also went 3-4 with a double, a swiped bag, and a sacrifice fly, scoring twice and driving in one. Carter Schmitt hit a couple doubles and walked a couple times in a 3-4, scoring twice and driving in two and Zach Wernoski also had a pair of RBIs in a 2-5 game with a sacrifice fly and a run scored.
The Yellow Jackets grabbed the lead in the early going, picking up four-consecutive hits off the bats of Bowles, Wernoski, Schmitt, and Logan Duff to get it started, with Schmitt driving in a run. A wild pitch and a sacrifice fly plated two more R-MC runs in a three-run first. They then added another in the second, stringing a single, a walk, a double steal, and finally a Wenoski single to plate a run. They added more in the third on a couple singles and a Michael Lavanga RBI double scored one run then a Jon Quici sacrifice brought in one more, making the score 6-0 before the Quakers got their first runner in scoring position.
After the third, Royals did finally settle down and throw a couple zeros on the board and it bought time for the Quakers offense to find their footing, finally breaking through in the top of the sixth. Rodrigues ripped a one-out single then Dark put the both of them in scoring position with an opposite field double. Pegues provided the guest's initial run with a sacrifice fly. Smith brought in another on a single and while he was caught stealing right after, GC had life at the plate.
Izaac McGuire (Wilkesboro, N.C.) nearly gave the momentum back in the bottom of the frame. After getting the first out, a couple walks on either side of a hit batsman loaded the bases.
John Yarnovich (Summerfield, N.C.) came on and slammed the door, though, inducing a K and a pop out to keep the Yellow Jackets off the board with the score 6-2.
Unfortunately, GC could not maintain that trend, going down in order at the plate before R-MC opened it up again. A one-out double and single put men on the corners and Wenoski plated the lead man with a sac fly. Schmitt doubled in another and Duff hit a two-bagger for one more as the lead opened to 9-2 at the end of seven. The hosts put a final tally on the board in the eighth on a Lanouette sacrifice fly, bringing the contest's final score to 10-2.
The Quakers stay in Ashland overnight and will dual the Yellow Jackets again tomorrow afternoon, Sunday, April 26
th, for a single game at 1:00 PM.
#GoQuakes
