Offense Stagnant, Baseball Falls to No. 6 Shenandoah
Shaner records first career extra-base hit in defeat
from Bryce Johnson, Director of Athletic Communications for Guilford College
GREENSBORO, N.C. – The Guilford College baseball team (12-15, 3-9 ODAC) fell to No. 6 nationally ranked Shenandoah University (26-4, 10-4 ODAC), 11-1 in Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) play at Edgar H. McBane Field on Saturday afternoon.
Marcello Ricigliano (Kernersville, N.C.) battled through 6.0 innings of work, allowing nine hits and a walk leading to five earned runs, though all of those came in just two frames. The senior fanned one in the defeat, dropping to 4-5.
Blaine Griffin got the ball for the Hornets and was really strong, allowing just a single unearned run over 5.1 frames, permitting four hits and three walks against a strikeout to improve to 8-0.
The Quaker offense had no juice following Friday’s tough defeat, and as a result they managed just six hits overall. Skyler Dark (Pleasant Garden, N.C.) and Rylan Smith (Archdale, N.C.) gathered two apiece, all singles, posting matching 2-4 lines. The other two hits were by Trevor Myers (Eastampton, N.J.) and Jackson Shaner (Pittsboro, N.C.), both doubles, with Shaner’s knock standing as his first collegiate XBH. Ryne Rodrigues (Summerfield, N.C.) was the lone GC player to cross the plate in the game.
Jaime Padilla finished a double short of the cycle in a 4-6 performance, scoring twice and driving in three. Kemper Omps completed a 3-4 showing with a walk, coming around to score three runs. Dillon Mauzy walked twice and doubled while JP Williams hit a solo homer and Carl Keenan connected on a two-run shot for the guests.
Both starters worked around leadoff baserunners that eventually reached third base in the opening inning before Shenandoah opened the scoring in the second. Mauzy led off, driving the second pitch he saw the other way and off the base of the Greensboro Monster for a double. Tyler Smith continued his huge weekend of driving in runs by tucking a single through the left side of the infield, claiming the advantage. A fielders choice, followed by an executed hit-and-run put men on the corners for Christian Carver and he did a job. Putting the ball in play with the man in motion, preventing a potential double play and getting the run home. Padilla followed suit, driving in a tally on a single making the lead 3-0.
Ricigliano settled in some, retiring 13 of the final 17 men he faced after the second, though two of those men to reach were loud ones. In the top of the fifth, Padilla led off with a triple to right-center, coming home on a groundout by Kyle Garrett. Then later in the frame, Williams got ahold of his fifth home run of the spring, driving a 2-0 pitch over the wall in center, extending their lead to 5-0.
Guilford finally got on the board in the bottom of the sixth. Loading the bases with one away, on Rodrigues and Dominic Pegues (Raleigh, N.C.) walks on either side of a hit by Dark. A passed ball allowed Rodrigues to dart home for a run, but despite now having two in scoring position with just one out, it ended up being all the Quakers would muster in both the inning and the game.
The Hornets extended their lead with longballs. Against John Yarnovich (Summerfield, N.C.) in the seventh, Garrett singled then Keenan cracked his fourth homerun of the spring on a laser to right. The following frame saw GC turn to Jonathan Sendziak (McLeansville, N.C.) with the righty permitting a leadoff single then Padilla’s third big fly of the campaign. Finally, in the ninth against Raines Denman (Houston, Texas), the guests wrapped up the scoring on a two-run single by Dominic D’Ottavio, bringing the final score to 11-1.
It will be back to the road next for GC, heading across the state to visit the reigning USA South Champions, Methodist University, on Tuesday, April 7th. First pitch in Fayetteville is set for 4:00 PM.
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