Baseball Bested By Greensboro For Season-Split of Crosstown Rivalry
Pride bullpen key in nonconference clash
from Bryce Johnson, Director of Athletic Communications at Guilford College
GREENSBORO, N.C. – The Guilford College baseball team (17-11, 5-9 ODAC) could not get going against the bullpen of Greensboro College (19-12, 9-3 ODAC), dropping a nonconference bout to their in-city foe, 8-4, at Ted Leonard Park on Wednesday afternoon.
Jacob Ray (Burlington, N.C.) was fine at the outset but ran into trouble in the third and fourth innings, finishing allowing seven runs, six earned, on ten hits and three walks while fanning three in the losing effort, dropping to 0-4.
It was a bullpen day for the hosts with Luke Rossi only throwing the first 2.0 innings allowing a run, it was earned, on three hits and one walk, striking out two and not factoring into the decision. The second of eight arms that paraded out of the Pride bullpen, Michael Richards got the win instead, throwing a scoreless third inning allowing a hit and improving to 6-2.
Cole Price (Summerfield, N.C.) was the only Quaker hitter with multiple knocks, going 2-of-3 with a double and a steal. Rylan Smith (Archdale, N.C.) reached on a double and a walk, scoring once and driving in another. Skyler Dark (Pleasant Garden, N.C.) also connected on a double, scoring once.
Pacing all players offensively was Chris Le who went 4-of-5 with a double, scoring twice and adding an RBI. Jake Duffy had the other Pride extra-base hit, also a double, as a part of a three-hit game, scoring twice. Louis Berini went 2-of-4 alongside a walk, scoring twice and driving in one. Dominic Scavone drove in two RBI and scored once in a two-hit night as well.
Smith drew a two out walk in the top of the first for the Quakers but nothing came of it before the Pride had a golden scoring chance against Ray in the bottom half. Le and Berini opened the inning with consecutive singles but a strikeout, flyout, and lineout ensued as the GC right-hander escaped the jam and his offense claimed him a lead in the second. The bottom of the order did the job as Josh Howard (Salem, Va.) began the rally with a one-out single. The second out went on the board before Gavin Fleming (Gibsonville, N.C.) and Jordan Burrough (Greensboro, N.C.) came through with the later singling to center to plate Howard and claim the advantage, although that is all Guilford would muster.
Greensboro broke through in the bottom of the third. Loading the bases on an infield single and two walks with one out, Scavone had the go-ahead knock with a two-run single before another infield hit refilled the bags. Two more runs came home on a fielder’s choice and an infield hit as the Pride led, 4-1. The home team then added on three more with RBI-singles from Berini, Brody Gardner, and Rush Bowman in the fourth as well.
The Quakers’ big rally came in the fifth as Dark doubled, Price singled, and then baited a throw that got away on a first-and-third double steal. Carter Blum (McLeansville, N.C.) ran for him as Price got hurt on the play and then Smith plated him with a two-bagger. He later scored when Howard reached on an error, but Guilford would only get the three, cutting the deficit to 7-4 and the bullpens did the rest. Greensboro got a run against Griffin Icenhower (Kernersville, N.C.) in the eighth and the score finalized at 8-4.
Bridgewater comes to town next for a critical Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) doubleheader on Saturday, April 9th. Game one will begin at 12:00 PM.
#GoQuakes