College Baseball Finals – Randolph-Macon 8-3, Guilford 5-2

CARY, N.C. – Randolph-Macon College’s Rick Spiers fanned 12 batters in 7.1 innings and J.T. Williamson earned his second save of the night in the Yellow Jackets’ 3-2 baseball win over Guilford College Monday at the USA Baseball Complex. The victory completed a sweep of the Old Dominion Athletic Conference twinbill, which opened with an 8-5 Randolph-Macon triumph.

Spiers (3-0) dominated the game’s first seven innings, allowing just one hit and recording 12 strikeouts. Guilford’s Kyle Humphrey hit a humpback single to left-center field with two out in the sixth inning to interrupt Spiers’ perfect game.

Guilford’s Grayson Tuttle led off the eighth with a single and Charles Noble followed with a towering home run to left field, which trimmed the Yellow Jackets’ lead to 3-2. After Spiers retired Josh Shepherd, Randolph-Macon manager Ray Hedrick called Christian Cok out of the bullpen to retire the side in the eighth. Williamson fanned two and closed out the ninth for his second save.

The Yellow Jackets (7-0, 2-0 ODAC) pieced together three runs off of Guilford starter Chase Shuford (1-2), who struck out three in six innings. Randolph-Macon’s Nick Maiolo plated the game’s first run with a two-out, third-inning single. Christian Sanderson and Jordan Schmeer delivered consecutive run-scoring hits in the fifth inning to spot Spiers a 3-0 lead.

In the opener, Randolph-Macon’s Stuart Brown and Blake Saathoff hit back-to-back RBI singles in the eighth inning to break a 4-4 tie. Tyler Petersen’s two-out, run-scoring hit in the bottom of the eighth drew Guilford back to within 6-5, but the Yellow Jackets’ Jay Patti smacked a two-out, two-run double in the ninth for the game’s final margin. The Quakers put runners on second and third with one out in the ninth before Williamson retired Logan Jones and Kyle Humphrey to seal the win.

Brown went three-for-five with three RBI in the opener for Randolph-Macon, which had six two-out RBI in the game. Nick Meiners also had three hits and Mitch Keeler scored three times for the Yellow Jackets. Nic Phelps improved to 2-0 with two innings in relief of starter James Walsh.

Jones and Herc Ingels had three hits apiece to pace Guilford’s 15-hit attack. A.J. Girting was two-for-three with two runs scored and Noble went two-for-four with two RBI. Avery Rogers (0-1) took the loss in relief of starter John Todd.

Coach Nick Black’s ’02 Quakers (3-7, 0-2 ODAC) host league-rival Emory & Henry College Wednesday (3/4) at 3:00 p.m. on McBane Field.

Randolph-Macon 8, Guilford 5 (Mar 02, 2015 at Cary, NC) (Game 1)
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Randolph-Macon...... 001 101 122  -  8 12  2      (6-0, 1-0 ODAC)
Guilford............ 000 210 110  -  5 15  0      (3-6, 0-1 ODAC)
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Pitchers: Randolph-Macon – James Walsh; Nic Phelps(6); Tanner Phillips(8); JT Williamson(9) and Nick Maiolo. Guilford – John Todd; Avery Rogers(6); Darin Salter(8) and Nathan Fulbright.
Win-Nic Phelps(2-0)
Save-JT Williamson(1)
Loss-Avery Rogers(0-1)
Time-2:45
Attendance-75
Weather: 60, sunny
Game: GCB-09

Randolph-Macon 3, Guilford 2 (Mar 02, 2015 at Cary, NC) (Game 2)
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Randolph-Macon...... 001 020 000  -  3  5  0      (7-0, 2-0 ODAC)
Guilford............ 000 000 020  -  2  3  1      (3-7, 0-2 ODAC)
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Pitchers: Randolph-Macon – Rick Spiers; Christian Cok(8); JT Williamson(9) and Nick Maiolo. Guilford – Chase Shuford; Andrew Martin(7); Justin Morrison(9) and Grayson Tuttle.
Win-Rick Spiers(3-0)
Save-JT Williamson(2)
Loss-Chase Shuford(1-2)
Time-2:03
Attendance-75
HR GC – Charles Noble.
Weather: 54, cooling fast, clear
Game notes: Old Dominion Athletic Conference game
Game: GCB-10