Baseball Handles Pfeiffer, Improve to Best Start in 50 Years
Smith and Tudor provide big swings late to pull away in win
from Bryce Johnson, Director of Athletic Communications
MISENHEIMER, N.C. – Benefitting from blasts in the eighth and ninth from Grayson Tudor (Reidsville, N.C.) and Rylan Smith (Archdale, N.C.) to get some breathing room, the Guilford College baseball team (5-0, 0-0 ODAC) proved victorious, 11-6 over Pfeiffer University (0-7), at Joe Ferebee Field on Tuesday night.
Upping their record to 5-0 out of the gates, GC is off to their best start in the NCAA-Era. The last time they opened a season winning five-or-more unblemished was all the way back in 1975 when they began that season with an 8-0 mark.
In his first collegiate start, Tanner Royals (High Point, N.C.) was okay for the Quakers. Completing 4.1 innings he permitted just one walk and five hits while striking out five, but he also allowed four runs, all of them earned and he did not factor into the decision. Jackson Marcellus (Chapel Hill, N.C.) got the win for GC instead, allowing an inherited runner and one run of his own to score over 1.2 innings permitting two hits against three K’s to improve to 2-0.
The first of six arms deployed by the Falcons, Cayman Buck only lasted 1.0 inning allowing a pair of unearned runs on two hits and one walk. Ivan Delp ended up on the losing end for PU allowing two runs, one earned, on two hits with a strikeout to drop to 0-2.
Fresh off his first-career ODAC Player of the Week nod, Smith dominated at the dish again, going 3-for-5 with a pair of doubles and a home run, driving in three runs and scoring three others. Tudor also connected on a longball as one of his two hits in a 2-of-4 day with a walk and a steal, scoring twice. Christian Chinen (Honolulu, Hawaii) contributed a trio of knocks and scored on two occasions while Skyler Dark (Pleasant Garden, N.C.) and Aaron Williams (Mocksville, N.C.) also crossed the place twice each.
Despite utilizing 17 position players, Pfeiffer’s nine hits were split across just five batters with Joe Javier, Wilson Lohrer, Connor Welker, and Levi Barrett collecting a pair of hits each. The first three all scored twice in the contest with Barrett doing the most damage of the bunch, clubbing a pair of doubles to drive in five runs.
The Guilford offense was consistent all night, scoring at least one run in seven of the nine innings and they got the party started right away against Buck. Dark leadoff with a knock then Williams got plunked and both advanced two bases as Smith reached on a throwing error allowing Dark to open the scoring. Chase Wade (Archdale, N.C.) rolled into a double play, but Williams was able to cross the plate making the score 2-0 and while GC threatened for more, that is all they mustered in the first.
The Quakers tacked on singular runs in the second and third innings with Chinen reaching on a hit, advancing on an Ethan George (Burlington, N.C.) SAC bunt, then again on a wild pitch, and once more on a passed ball in the second before Smith hit a double ahead of productive outs from Wade and Ryne Rodrigues (Summerfield, N.C.) to make the advantage, 4-0.
Pfeiffer got on the board against Royals in the home half of the third, with Barrett driving in two on a double before a Wade sacrifice fly plated Smith in the fifth, making the tallies 5-2 and setting the stage for a big Falcon fifth inning. With one out, Javier and Lohrer hit singles with a Javier swipe in between to plate a run and prompt a pitching change. Welker beat a bunt single then stole second before Barrett doubled both of them in to level the score. However, with the go-ahead run in scoring position, Marcellus buckled down, striking out the next two and keeping the tallies even at five-all.
GC secured the lead for good in the top of the sixth. Tudor reached on the second of three Pfeiffer errors on the night leading off the inning then he stole second, took third on a Carter Blum (McLeansville, N.C.) rollover, and darted home on a wild pitch. Chinen followed with his second hit and came all the way around from first when George split the gap in left-center to make the edge 7-5.
Pfeiffer narrowed the gap with a Barrett RBI-groundout in the bottom of the seventh but Tudor responded, driving a 1-2 pitch to the power-alley in right-center and out for his first home run of the season. Then in the ninth, despite an 0-2 disadvantage count, Smith broke it open with a three-run blast, his second of the season, bringing the final score to 11-6.
It will be a quick turnaround for the Quakers, who hit the road again tomorrow, Wednesday, February 26th to visit William Peace University. First pitch in Raleigh is 4:00 PM.
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