College Baseball Finals – Hampden-Sydney 5-15, Guilford 4-4 (10 inn. game 1)

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Hampden-Sydney College banged out 22 hits in a 15-4 Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) baseball win at Guilford College Sunday. The win capped a sweep of the league doubleheader after the visiting Tigers (21-7, 5-4 ODAC) pulled out a 5-4 opening-game victory in 10 innings.

The first tilt was tied at two after eight innings before both teams tallied twice to force extra frames. Hampden-Sydney went ahead on Jackson Rogers’ suicide squeeze bunt single that scored Lee Carneal. Spencer Wiles followed with an RBI hit to open a 4-2 Tigers’ lead. Guilford rallied to tie the game thanks to an RBI groundout by Justin Jordan and John Macon Smith’s game-tying single with two away.

Hampden-Sydney went ahead in the 10th inning when pinch-runner Reggie Johnson scored from second on Jack Elliott’s single to right off of reliever Avery Rogers (0-2). The Tigers’ Billy Nixon (2-2) clinched the win by retiring the heart of Guilford’s lineup in the home 10th.

Both starters pitched well late into the game. Hampden-Sydney hurler Trevor Otey fanned five in seven innings before giving way to Nixon in the eighth. Nixon struck out four Quakers in three innings. Guilford’s Borja Jones-Berasaluce threw a season-high 8.1 innings, yielded four runs and struck out four.

Hampden-Sydney’s offense jumped on Guilford starter Drew Crawford (2-3) in game two. The Tigers banged out six of their 22 hits in the first inning and took a 4-0 lead. Christian Hamlett hit a two-run triple and scored on Jeff Gray’s run-scoring single.
Crawford settled down and Guilford scored three runs off of Hampden-Sydney starter Hunter Lewis (6-1), which made it a 5-3 game after five innings.

The Tigers’ bats came alive again with six more hits and Hampden-Sydney took advantage of two Quakers’ errors in a seven-run sixth. Three seventh-inning markers made opened 15-3 lead.

The Quakers plated an unearned run in the ninth, the lone tally against four relievers who combined to limit Guilford to one hit in the final three innings.

All nine Tigers’ starters had hits, including Lee Carneal, who went five-for-six. Hamlett, Wiles and Nathan Chamberlin each had three hits for Hampden-Sydney. Hamlett scored four times and Chamberlin delivered a game-high three RBI. Lewis, who fanned five in six innings, helped his cause at the plate with two hits and two RBI.

Guilford is back in action Tuesday (4/1) at league-rival Roanoke College at 7:00 p.m.

Game 2

                    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9  R  H E
   Hampden-Sydney   4 0 1 0 0 7 3 0 0 15 22 3
   Guilford         1 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 1  4  6 2

Win – Hunter Lewis (6-1).
Loss – Crawford (2-4).
Save – None.

Umpires – HP: Mark Yoder 1B: Mark Price
Start: 3:35 pm Time: 2:45 Attendance: 100
Weather: mostly cloudy, 50, high winds