Hairston Drives In Eight, Baseball Splits Doubleheader With Hampden-Sydney
Graduate Student clubs pair of home runs in first contest
from Bryce Johnson, Director of Athletic Communications
GREENSBORO, N.C. – It was the Isaiah Hairston (High Point, N.C.) show all Saturday afternoon, as he put together a two-homerun performance in game one, authoring an eight RBI display evenly divided across the Guilford College baseball team’s doubleheader split with Hampden-Sydney, falling 9-7 in the opener before rebounding with a 10-5 victory in game two in Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) action at McBane Field.
With the break-even day, GC reached double-digit wins at 10-16, 3-7 against ODAC foes. The Tigers, meanwhile, move to 9-13, 3-9 against conference opponents.
Hairston cranked a pair of home runs in game one for the Quakers, marking the second time he has achieved that this season, albeit he hit both of his long balls over the fence this time. He is the first Guilford baseball player with two multi-homer games in a season since Rob Bittner ’06 in 2006. He finished 2-of-4 with a walk and his two home runs, driving in four in game one.
In the opener, Marcello Ricigliano (Kernersville, N.C.) permitted seven runs, all earned on 12 hits, a walk, and three hit batsmen against two strikeouts across 4.2 innings and ended up on the hook for the loss, falling to 2-3. Jake Williams went the first 5.0 innings allowing four runs, all earned, on four hits, a walk, and three hit batsmen, fanning nine to pick up the win for the visitors and improve to 1-1. Alex Fitz-Hugh pitched the ninth allowing a solo home run but locking down his fourth save.
Michael Sumner (Mooresville, N.C.) finished only 1-for-3 but got plunked once and walked once, scoring thrice and driving in one. Aaron Williams (Mocksville, N.C.) reached on a HBP two times and also launched a home run, driving in two runs. Chase Wade (Archdale, N.C) collected a trio of hits, including two doubles, scoring once as well. Six of the top seven men in the Hampden-Sydney starting nine recorded multiple hits including Jaxon Masterson who had three including a double, scoring twice. Christian Lancaster drove in three runs, Jake Moore added two RBI’s with Greer Farr going deep twice in the win.
Jacob Ray (Burlington, N.C.) took the ball in game two, throwing 4.0 innings of three-run baseball allowing four hits and a walk. He did not qualify for the win and instead it was Jackson Marcellus (Chapel Hill, N.C.) who got the victory after throwing 2.0 perfect frames in relief to improve to 2-2. Adam Emhoff got knocked around to the tune of five runs, all earned, on just two hits but one hit batsman and three walks over 1.1 innings, taking the loss to fall to 2-3.
Hairston drove in another four runs in the second half of the doubleheader across three hits, he also scored once. Skyler Dark (Pleasant Garden, N.C.) scored three times going 2-of-3 at the plate with a double, a walk, and a hit by pitch. Grayson Tudor (Reidsville, N.C.) took two walks, tripled in a run, and scored across his four plate appearances. The Tigers only accumulated seven hits as a team in the second contest with Lancaster being responsible for three of them including a pair of doubles. He scored once and drove in two. Jack Wilson had a double, scoring once and driving in a run as well.
GAME 1
Marcello Ricigliano (Kernersville, N.C.) got the first two outs of the top of the first in short order before consecutive singles from Matthew Arnold, Christian Lancaster, and Jake Moore plated a run. A hit batsman loaded the bases, but Ricigliano’s first K limited the damage. The Quakers responded in the home half without the benefit of a hit as Michael Sumner (Mooresville, N.C.) got plunked, the Tigers pitched around Isaiah Hairston (High Point, N.C.), walking him on four pitches then Sumner got a great read on H-SC starter Jake Williams swiping third. An Aaron Williams (Mocksville, N.C.) fielder’s choice evened the score at one after one.
Once again, Ricigliano got the first two outs in short order in the second, but had trouble finishing the frame hitting two batters on either side of a hit. Lancaster got jammed, but floated a single just inside the painted grass down the rightfield line, bringing in a pair. Moore’s second run-scoring knock in as many innings made the score 4-1.
A Harris bloop double, a wild pitch, and a Lancaster sacrifice fly extended the advantage then Greer Farr’s first home run of the season, well over fence in straight-away center and an Arnold RBI-single in the fifth made the score 7-1, ending Ricigliano’s day. Griffin Icenhower (Kernersville, N.C.) entered and got out of the jam but Guilford had dug themselves into a deep hole, a hole they would begin to climb out of in the bottom of the frame.
Chase Wade (Archdale, N.C.) got it started by splitting the right-centerfield gap for a double for just the Quakers’ second hit of the game. The next two men were retired but Sumner would ensure the chance would not be squandered by lining a single down the line in right. Hairston followed by getting a 1-1 pitch he could handle, going the other way and clearing the Greensboro Monster for a two-run homer as the Tiger advantage had been sliced in half, 7-4.
GC would inch even closer in the seventh. Sumner worked a four-pitch walk with one out setting the stage for Hairston again. He fell behind in the count, 0-2, but worked the count full and once again he came through, crushing one over the fence in center, completing his second two-homer game of the season and making the score 7-6.
All the while, the efforts of Icenhower and Chase Stewart (Charlotte, N.C.) kept the door open for a GC comeback until the top of the ninth. Farr connected on his second home run of the game and of the season on a 2-2 pitch. Later in the frame Grayson Harris doubled in a run. Williams would connect on his fourth homer over the Greensboro Monster in left, but that would be all the Quakers would get in the ninth as they fell in game one, 9-7.
GAME 2
After a pristine top of the first by Jacob Ray (Burlington, N.C.), including a defensive gem by the hurler, the Quaker offense claimed the lead in the home half. Skyler Dark (Pleasant Garden, N.C.) got hit in the elbow guard with the first pitch of the game from Adam Emhoff. Michael Sumner (Mooresville, N.C.) drew a walk before Isaiah Hairston (High Point, N.C.) made his hardest contact of the day, including his two long balls in game one, rocketing a grounder past the first baseman Grayson Harris, scoring Dark and advancing Sumner to third. Sumner came home when Aaron Williams (Mocksville, N.C.) rolled into a twin-killing, but the score was 2-0 after one inning of play.
Guilford added on in the second. Grayson Tudor (Reidsville, N.C.) got it started with a walk and swiped second before Ethan George (Burlington, N.C.) hit a flyball that just kept carrying out to right, and over the right fielder’s head that he legged out for a triple. He would score on the fourth ball of a free pass drawn by Adam Anderson (Gastonia, N.C.) prompting a pitching change. Dark singled and a double steal put two in scoring position and once again, Hairston took advantage, driving in both men with a single back through the box to make the score 6-0.
H-SC would fight back. Jack Wilson doubled in a run and later scored in a two-run third before Greer Farr recorded a sacrifice fly to make the score 6-3 before Guilford opened it up again in the home half. With one out Dark drew ball four and Sumner got drilled for Hairston who cashed for the fifth time on the afternoon, plating Dark with a single to center. The second out was recorded before Chase Wade (Archdale, N.C.) and Tudor added run-scoring singles to make it 9-3. They were gifted another in the seventh, loading the bases ahead of Harris botching a slow roller to first, allowing a run to score on what would have been the inning’s third out.
The Tigers got a rally going in the eighth with two down against Wade, who had entered the game to pitch. Harris singled up the middle, Jaxson Masterson took a walk, and Matthew Arnold got an infield hit loading the bases for Christian Lancaster. He laced one into the left-centerfield gap, plating two with ease, but the Quakers snuffed out any momentum with a perfect Tudor to Sumner to Williams relay to cut down Lucas Burnette, who had ran for Arnold, at the plate, keeping the advantage at 10-5.
Wade polished it off with a flawless ninth to secure the win by a 10-5 score.
Guilford hosts Averett for a midweek conference showdown on Wednesday afternoon at McBane Field next. First pitch will be at 3:00 PM.
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