Baseball Scuffles, Drops Pair to Washington & Lee
McCandless, Royals first-career homers among multiple career-firsts in defeat
from Bryce Johnson, Director of Athletic Communications at The Guilford College
GREENSBORO, N.C.– The Guilford College baseball team (14-8, 3-7 ODAC) encountered a difficult day, getting swept at the hands of Washington & Lee University (9-10, 4-9 ODAC), 10-5 and 14-7, in Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) play at McBane Field on Saturday afternoon.
Marcello Ricigliano (Kernersville, N.C.) did not get the help of the best defensive showing behind him in game one, and really battled through 5.0-plus innings as a result. He allowed nine hits and one walk leading to six runs, four of them earned, while striking out three and finished on the hook for the loss to fall to 0-3.
Josh Benner had a similar line to his Quaker counterpart in the early game, but benefitted from clean defense by his fielders. Also lasting just 5.0-plus innings, he allowed five runs, all earned, on nine hits and two walks, fanning three and did enough to get the win and improve to 2-2. Brody Pasieka entered with it being a save situation and completed the longest save possible for his first of the season, picking up the final 12 outs in shutout fashion allowing four hits and a walk with four K’s.
It was another good game at the plate for Skyler Dark (Pleasant Garden, N.C.) who finished 3-for-4 with a walk, a double, a triple, a steal, and two runs scored. Aaron Williams (Mocksville, N.C.) finished 1-of-4 with a double and drove in two runs. Coming off the bench, Tanner Royals (High Point, N.C.) bashed his first career home run in a 2-of-3 showing. Ryne Rodrigues (Summerfield, N.C.) reached three times with a double and a walk while Ethan George (Burlington, N.C.) had a triple as one of his two hits.
Nathan DeWitte had a double and a triple among a 3-for-5 game one, driving in four runs. Nick Lagges went 2-of-4, walking once, scoring twice, and driving in one while Camdyn Teague drove in a pair and scored once out of the nine-hole.
Jacob Ray (Burlington, N.C.) scuffled in his game two start lasting just five batters allowing all of them to reach via four hits and one walk, all of whom came in to score as earned runs. He never ended up off the hook, falling to 0-3.
Getting the game two nod, Cooper Charneco went the first 6.0 innings allowing nine hits and four walks leading to five runs, all earned, fanning six to get the win and improve to 2-1. Evan Blair locked down his second save the long way allowing two runs, both earned, on three walks and a hit, striking out five over the final 3.0 innings.
Like Royals before him, Aidan McCandless (Burlington, N.C.) hit his first career home run driving in two runs and scoring two others on a 2-of-4 day with a free pass. George hit safely in both of his trips to the plate, hitting two doubles, scoring once and driving in one. Rodrigues and Josh Howard (Salem, Va.) each hit triples as well and Gavin Fleming (Gibsonville, N.C.) drove in two runs for the Quakers.
All but one W&L starter had a hit in the late contest, but it was Andrew Thornton who did a bunch of damage going 4-of-6 with three doubles, driving in six runs and was one-of-six Generals to score twice in the game. Campbell Charneco hit behind him and added four more knocks, including a double, driving in two, and John Turner went 3-for-6 with a two-bagger and two RBI.
GAME 1
Game one got weird from the jump with Nathan DeWitte leading off and driving one to left that had Grayson Tudor (Reidsville, N.C.) all kinds of turned around and got over his head for a double then Nick Lagges singled into left, but the ball got booted and then also thrown away allowing him to reach third and DeWitte to score. A Campbell Charneco groundout brought in the run to make it 2-0 before GC grabbed a bat. Then, in the home half, Christian Chinen (Honolulu, Hawaii) chopped one off the plate and beat the play for a single before the first two outs, but he came all the way around to score when Aaron Williams (Mocksville, N.C.) picked him up, doubling off the base of Greensboro Monster.
In the second, Jack Turner singled and Preston Larmore got plunked two batters later. Both advanced on an errand pickoff to second before a Camdyn Teague run-scoring single and a DeWitte RBI groundout made it 4-1.
The Quakers chipped away in the third as Skyler Dark (Pleasant Garden, N.C.) laced a triple off the wall in right-center then Rylan Smith (Archdale, N.C.) snuck a chopper past the diving shortstop and into center to plate him. Later in the inning, Ryne Rodrigues (Summerfield, N.C.) doubled just over the right fielder and Carter Blum (McLeansville, N.C.) hit a sacrifice fly to score Smith.
The teams traded runs in the fifth and sixth innings. In the first frame, Paul Ramseur singled in Lagges then Williams plated Dark with a sacrifice fly in the home half. Then in the sixth, Lagges plated Jack Belbot on a single before Tanner Royals (High Point, N.C.) took a 3-1 pitch over the Greensboro Monster to leadoff the bottom of the frame, the first of his career, bringing the score to 6-5.
The big blow came in the top of the seventh by W&L. Loading the bases against Jackson Marcellus (Chapel Hill, N.C.) and Griffin Icenhower (Kernersville, N.C.) on a Charneco walk, a Turner single, and a Larmore hit, Icenhower drilled the ninth hitter Teague to force in a run. DeWitte made it really hurt, hitting a line drive that just landed out of Chinen’s reach in center and got past him for a bases-clearing triple.
GC had their chances, meanwhile, but just could not get that breakthrough inning, stranding nine men on base and Brody Pasieka locked it down for the Generals for a 10-5 win.
GAME 2
The late game got out of hand quickly, for Guilford. It was just one of those innings in the first as the initial eight Generals all reached against Jacob Ray (Burlington, N.C.) and Reese Baker (Ashland, Va.), and the guests ended up posting ten runs on nine hits without the benefit of a Quaker error, only two walks, and three extra-base hits in the inning. Andrew Thornton had two big knocks with a two-run and a three-run double in the frame to stake W&L to a massive advantage.
Guilford would try to chip away with an extended picket fence, though the Generals consistently countered. Aaron Williams (Mocksville, N.C.) tripled and Ethan George (Burlington, N.C.) doubled him in in the second although Thornton’s third run-scoring double of the game countered that run in the top of the third. In the bottom half, Ryne Rodrigues (Summerfield, N.C.) tripled in Chase Wade (Archdale, N.C.), but again, W&L got one back as John Turner scored on an error after doubling earlier in the inning. In the bottom of the fourth, Aidan McCandless (Burlington, N.C.) singled home George and the guests got two unearned runs in response in the top of the fifth as the score was 14-3.
Guilford made some headway from there. Josh Howard (Salem, Va.) tripled to left-center to score Collin McGuire (Wilkesboro, N.C.) in the fifth and then McCandless bashed his first collegiate home run, a wall-scraper over the Greensboro Monster, on the first pitch of the sixth. In the seventh, Gavin Fleming (Gibsonville, N.C.) singled in two and GC got the first two men on base in the eighth, but left them stranded, unable to capitalize on their last good chance to get back in the game, ultimately falling 14-7.
Next, Guilford hosts a nonconference game for the final time this season, as Methodist visits on Tuesday, April 1st at 3:00 PM.
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