College Baseball Final – Piedmont 10, Guilford 1

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Piedmont College’s Andrew Burden posted three RBI while batting two-for-four as Guilford College dropped a Saturday afternoon contest to Piedmont, 10-1, to complete a home-opening two-game set for the Quakers.

Piedmont posted four runs in the top of the second inning as the Lions’ Justin Groover produced one of four doubles on the day for Piedmont to spark the four-run rally. The Quakers answered the rally in the bottom half of the frame thanks to a Logan Washle single one-out single with runners at first and second base. The Quakers threatened with runners at the corners before the Lions’ rallied to retire the side in the next two at-bats.

The Quakers faced the minimum for the Lions in the next half inning, turning a double play to force two quick outs in the inning as Josh Shepherd fielded a sharp ground ball to produce the first two outs of the inning before the Quakers retired the Lions in the next at-bat.

Piedmont posted two runs in the top of the fourth where a pair of two-out triples with a runner on third base sparked the rally to extend the lead. Piedmont’s two-out rally continued the next inning, when Tyler Burdette produced a two-out single after Piedmont’s third triple of the day.

Burden produced two of his RBI in the top of the eighth inning where he connected on a home run to right field to extend the lead to nine runs. The Quakers ended the inning with flair as Washle prevented a sacrifice fly in medium-depth right field, throwing out Zach Langley at home plate to end the inning.

Joe Metts and Mitchell Stumpo each hit two-for-three on the afternoon as Metts produced a pair of singles on his first two plat appearances. Shepherd also finished with two hits, batting two-for-four with a double.

Groover finished two-for-four for Piedmont, posting a double and a triple with one RBI while Burdette hit two-for-three while driving in two runs.

Ned Yost (0-1) claimed the loss for the Quakers in a one and one-third inning start, striking out one and walking one, giving up four runs on five hits. Stewart Laws led Guilford’s pitching staff with a clean final one and two-thirds innings, striking out one. Joe LeNoir also threw two innings of strong relief, giving up just one hit while striking out one and walking one.

Ben McCurley (1-0) posted the win for Piedmont in a five-inning start, being pulled two at-bats into the top of the sixth inning. He walked two and struck out one while giving up one run on eight hits.

The Quakers (1-1) take to the road Friday to begin a three-game multi-site series with William Peace University, beginning with a Friday evening contest at 6 p.m. at the USA Baseball National Training Facility in Cary, N.C.

Piedmont 10, Guilford 1 (Feb 04, 2017 at Greensboro, N.C.)
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Piedmont............ 140 210 020  - 10 14  0      (1-1)
Guilford............ 010 000 000  -  1 10  1      (1-1)
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Pitchers: Piedmont – Ben McCurley; Seth George(6); Matt Vonderschmidt(8); Buddy Green(9) and Noah Heatherly. Guilford – Eric Yost; Logan Jones(2); Joe LeNoir(6); Brody Holloman(8); Stewart Laws(8) and Trevor Denton.
Win-Ben McCurley(1-0)
Loss-Eric Yost(0-1)
T-2:56
A-200
HR PCM – Andrew Burden.
Weather: sunny, 40
B. McCurley faced 2 batters in the 6th.
Game: GCB-02