GREENSBORO, N.C. – Zach Tobias’ one-out double in the ninth scored Austin Cain from second base and lifted visiting Case Western Reserve University to a 13-12 baseball win at Guilford College Sunday. Dan Sondag worked through the heart of the Quakers’ lineup in the bottom of the ninth for his first save of the year.
The Spartans (4-0) bashed five homers in the game, two apiece by Noah Sherman and Andrew Frey, but the Quakers (6-6) refused to back down and hit three bombs themselves. Guilford rallied from 5-0 and 9-5 deficits and tied the score at 12 on Grayson Tuttle’s eighth-inning homer, his second of the game. The Quakers nearly took the lead later in the eighth, but Danny Ditota was thrown out at home after a powerful collision with catcher Jordan Swisher. The crash resulted in multiple ejections, including that of Ditota and Spartans’ head coach Matt Englander.
After the inning-ending collision, Case Western Reserve rookie Aaron Cain led off the ninth with a double to centerfield off of Avery Rogers (0-1). Cain scored one out later on Tobias’ slicing double into the right-field corner. After intentionally walking Andrew Gronski (who hit for the cycle and two homers in a 23-11 Spartans’ win over Guilford Saturday), Rogers retired the dangerous Frey on a shallow fly ball and Kerrigan Cain on a dribbler up the first-base line.
Sondag, the Spartans’ closer, yielded a lead-off single to Kyle Humphrey in the home ninth. Nathan Fulbright lined out to center field before Sondag fanned Guilford cleanup hitter John Macon Smith on a tipped third strike. Needing a single for the cycle, Corey Wallace drew a two-out walk after falling behind, 0-2. Sondag got Tuttle to fly out to right field, saving the game for reliever Ray Kelly (1-0).
Sherman had four of the Spartans’ 20 hits and four RBI. Gronski and Tobias both added three hits. Frey’s two homers led to three RBI. Kerrigan Cain hit Case’s fifth homer and had three RBI. Robert Winemiller, the fourth of six Spartans’ pitchers, threw three scoreless innings of relief with four strikeouts.
Wallace went three-for-five with a homer and five RBI. Tuttle also had three hits and three RBI. Michael Whited added three hits, including a double.
Guilford looks to snap a three-game losing skid when it opens Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) play Saturday (3/1) at Virginia Wesleyan College.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 R H E
Case Western Reserve 5 2 2 3 0 0 0 0 1 0 13 20 4
Guilford 5 0 6 0 0 0 0 1 0 X 12 15 1
Win – Ray Kelly (1-0)
Loss – Rogers (0-1)
Save – Daniel Sonda (1).
Umpires – HP: Chris Raper 1B: Malcolm Hall
Start: 2:30 pm Time: 3:16 Attendance: 150
Weather: 66 sunny