Baseball Drops Pair to No. 3 Lynchburg
Quaker bats silenced by Hornets pitching
from Bryce Johnson, Director of Athletic Communications at Guilford College
LYNCHBURG, Va. – Visiting the No. 3 nationally ranked University of Lynchburg (17-3, 6-1 ODAC) for Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) action, the Guilford College baseball team (12-6, 2-5 ODAC) dropped a pair of contests, 5-1 and 13-1 at James C. Fox Field on Saturday afternoon.
Getting the nod for the Quakers in game one was Marcello Ricigliano (Kernersville, N.C.) and he was good early allowing a single unearned run over the first four before encountering trouble. He ended up on the hook for five runs, three earned, on ten hits against three strikeouts across 5.2 innings. Griffin Icenhower (Kernersville, N.C.) and Jackson Marcellus (Chapel Hill, N.C.) tossed 2.1 scoreless innings after for GC, but the offense could not get Ricigliano off the hook as he took the loss to fall to 0-2.
Tyler Kaltreider continued his impressive start to the season on the bump for the Hornets allowing just a single earned run on seven hits over 8.0 innings, striking out seven to get the win and up his mark to 5-0.
Grayson Tudor (Reidsville, N.C.) finished as the top hitter in this one for Guilford, going 2-of-4 with a double and driving in the lone run for his team. Skyler Dark (Pleasant Garden, N.C.) also went 2-for-4 scoring the lone Quaker run. Ryne Rodrigues (Summerfield, N.C.) also had multiple knocks, going 2-of-3 at the plate.
Brandon Garcia led all players with a 3-for-4 showing including a double, driving in one run, scoring another, and stealing two bags. Benton Jones posted a pair of extra-base hits, with a double and a triple, scoring once and driving in another. Logan Webster was the only player to score twice for either side, going 1-for-4 with a steal and an RBI.
Jacob Ray (Burlington, N.C.) matched his season-long outing going 4.1 frames, but ended up permitting seven runs, all earned, on seven hits and three walks, whiffing three and ending up responsible for the defeat in the late contest to drop to 0-2.
Nick Mattfield went the distance of the shortened game two, pitching all 7.0 innings allowing a single earned run on three hits and a walk, striking out five and getting the win to improve to 4-0.
The Quaker offense really had trouble in the second game. Devin Tonkins (Greensboro, N.C.) drove in their lone run on a triple, plating Tudor who reached on a walk in two plate appearances. Josh Howard (Salem, Va.) and Cole Price (Summerfield, N.C.) added one hit each as well.
Lynchburg got contributions up-and-down the lineup in game two with eight of their nine starters registering a hit and an RBI and eight other starters scoring at least once. Garrett Collins had the big swing with a three-run double, scoring on one other occasion. Joe Munitz crossed the plate four times after reaching in all four of his plate appearances via a double, a single, and two walks. Parker Cato had a two-bagger, driving in two runs over his two hits. Webster also recorded a pair of knocks for the home team.
GAME 1
The first half of game one really flew by with Marcello Ricigliano (Kernersville, N.C.) and Tyler Kaltreider setting down the opposition swiftly and efficiently. The only inning that saw multiple baserunners in this span for either side would be the bottom of third and that would be the frame that would open the scoring. Logan Webster reached on an error to start the inning and was sacrificed to second and scored two batters later on a two-out triple off the bat of Benton Jones as the University of Lynchburg grabbed an unearned run.
The Hornets added on in the fifth and sixth innings. In the fifth, Brandon Garcia hit a leadoff double and subsequently stole third. The throw on the steal by Aaron Williams (Mocksville, N.C.) tailed on him to his arm side and Rylan Smith (Archdale, N.C.) could not navigate around the runner to knock it down and the ball went into left field, allowing Garcia to come home on the play. Consecutive two-out doubles off the bats of Jones and Sean Pokorak would constitute another run, making the score 3-0. Then in the sixth, Parker Cato doubled to right, took third on a groundout and scooted home on a Webster single. He subsequently swiped second and crossed the plate on a Garcia knock and while Griffin Icenhower (Kernersville, N.C.) came on and shut it down, the damage was done.
The insurance runs for the hosts proved pretty costly momentum-wise as the Quakers had begun piecing some things together against Kaltreider in the top half. Opposite-field singles off the bats of Skyler Dark (Pleasant Garden, N.C.) and Williams put two on although Smith rolled into a double play. Grayson Tudor (Reidsville, N.C.) followed, shooting a double down the line in left to pick up the run, cutting the deficit to two at that point, but the Lynchburg runs in the home half made the tallies 5-1 after six.
Despite Jackson Marcellus (Chapel Hill, N.C.) entering and keeping the score where it was, Guilford would not be able to get another true rally together the rest of the way. Ryne Rodrigues (Summerfield, N.C.) did triple to leadoff the ninth, but Jackson Shaner (Moncure, N.C.) entered and was thrown out at the plate on a possible Chris Shoemaker (Winston-Salem, N.C.) sacrifice fly before a strikeout finalized the 5-1 defeat.
GAME 2
After a flawless top of the first by Nick Mattfield, Jacob Ray (Burlington, N.C.) experienced a bit of a rocky start for Guilford. Brandon Garcia led off with an infield hit then Joe Munitz drew a walk putting two on immediately for the Hornets. Benton Jones singled in the lead runner as the trailer went first-to-third before crossing the plate on a Conner Moore sacrifice fly, putting the hosts up 2-0.
Lynchburg added another on a Munitz free pass and steal, a Moore single, and a Joe Gordon safety squeeze play, but overall, Ray really settled in for a while for the Quakers, matching his longest outing of the season and giving the bats time to try and gain some traction. They did breakthrough in the top of the fifth. Grayson Tudor (Reidsville, N.C.) opened the frame with a base on balls, but back-to-back flyouts put Guilford at risk of squandering the threat. Devin Tonkins (Greensboro, N.C.) ensured that would not be the case, drilling his first collegiate extra-base hit, a triple, to right field to get GC on the board.
In need of a shutdown inning for the second-straight game in an attempt to build on the momentum they had seized, the guests could not do so as Lynchburg broke it open in the bottom of the fifth. Munitz singled, Moore got hit by a pitch, and Gordon singled, filling the bases with one out. Gavin Collins brought a swift finish to Ray’s performance, clearing the bags with a double to center. Hayden Sekanick (Tampa, Fla.) entered, but could not stop the bleeding, allowing a Parker Cato RBI double, then hit Eric Hiett with a pitch, Logan Webster singled in one, two more scored as Garcia reached on an error, and Munitz doubled in another to open an 11-1 lead. Jack Ratliff (Greensboro, N.C.) came on and allowed the inherited runner to cross the plate, but did mercifully put an end to the highest-scoring inning Guilford has permitted this season.
The Hornets added a single run in the sixth before the teams decided to conclude the game after seven innings with a 13-1 score.
Guilford looks to snap their five-game skid in league play when they head up to Ferrum to battle the Panthers next on Tuesday, March 25th at 3 PM.
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