Guilford Goes 3-0 in USA South/ODAC Challenge‏

Dave Walters reporting:

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Guilford College’s baseball team completed a perfect weekend in the inaugural USA South/Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) Challenge with wins over Greensboro College and Averett University Sunday. The Quakers improved to 4-1 for the first time since 2001 and were the unofficial challenge champions as the lone team with a 3-0 record in the six-team event. Bridgewater College and Randolph-Macon College both posted 2-1 records as the ODAC won seven of the nine games played in three different city venues.

The Quakers ended a five-game losing streak to Greensboro College in Sunday’s first game with a 3-2 victory at NewBridge Bank Park in downtown Greensboro. John Goodwin’s pinch-hit sacrifice fly in the fifth inning broke a 1-1 tie and Drew Ward added an RBI double in the seventh to provide the winning margin. Drew Gurkin worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the Greensboro eighth and threw a scoreless ninth for his first save of the season. Junior Adam Hart (1-0) earned his first Guilford victory with seven innings of five-hit ball.

Kyle Wooden continued his hot hitting with three hits, including two doubles, and two runs scored. Ward went two-for-three with two RBI.

Jacob Tomb had three hits for the Pride. Michael Manfro (0-1) struck out six in six innings on the mound.

In Sunday’s second game, the Quakers broke a 4-4 tie with an unearned run in the fifth inning. Ward added an RBI double in the sixth and Wooden had an RBI single in Guilford’s three-run seventh. Averett (2-6) mounted a ninth-inning rally with three runs, but drew no closer.

Wooden had three more hits, including his team-leading sixth double of the year, and raised his batting average to .800 (16-20) through Guilford’s first five games. Goodwin also had three hits in his first start of the season and Ward had two hits and two more RBI. Rookie Eric Backus earned the win with four innings in 3.1 innings of relief of starter Alex Pecevich.

Jeremy Clifton had two hits for the Cougars, who took advantage of four Quakers’ errors.

Guilford is back in action Thursday (2/19) with a noon doubleheader versus Southern Virginia University.

Guilford 3, Greensboro 2 (Feb 15, 2009 at Greensboro, NC)
———————————————————————-
Greensboro………. 000 010 010 – 2 7 0 (1-3)
Guilford………… 000 020 10X – 3 7 3 (3-1)
———————————————————————-
Pitchers: Greensboro – MANFRO; PHETTEPLACE(7). Guilford – Adam Hart; Sammy Stuart(8);
Drew Gurkin(8).
Win-Adam Hart(1-0) Save-Drew Gurkin(1) Loss-MANFRO(0-1) T-2:09 A-100
Game: GCB-04

Guilford 9, Averett 7 (Feb 15, 2009 at Greensboro, NC)
———————————————————————-
Averett…………. 000 040 003 – 7 7 2 (2-6)
Guilford………… 020 111 31X – 9 15 4 (4-1)
———————————————————————-
Pitchers: Averett – CROWL, Justin; SLAUGHTER, Matt(7); MULLIS, Dale(8). Guilford –
Alex Pecevich; Eric Backus(5); Michael Blocher(9).
Win-Eric Backus(1-0) Loss-CROWL, Justin(0-2) T-3:00 A-55
Backus faced 1 batter in the 9th.
Game: GCB-05