GREENSBORO, N.C. – Devin Tonkins (Greensboro, N.C.) backpedaled with his arms outstretched in celebration as he had lifted the Guilford College baseball team to their first victory of the 2024 season, "walking-off" Bob Jones University run-rule style, 12-2, on Friday afternoon at McBane Field. The Quakers clobbered the Bruins' pitching to the tune of 16 hits in support of Marcello Ricigliano's (Kernersville, N.C.) complete game effort on the bump.

With the win, GC grabs their first win of the new campaign to advance to 1-3. BJU, meanwhile, falls to 0-8.

Fresh off an ODAC Pitcher of the Week-worthy start in the season-opener, Ricigliano put in another superb effort on the hill, doing it all himself in the truncated game completing 7.0 innings, successfully navigating around 12 hits by allowing just two runs, both earned. He did not walk a man but did hit a batter against seven strikeouts in the winning effort to improve to 1-0. Joshua Legnard got the start for the Bruins and he only lasted the first 3.0 frames allowing five runs, all earned, on five hits while not walking a man against three K's, taking the loss and falling to 0-1.

Isaiah Hairston (High Point, N.C.) led the offensive charge, accounting for half Guilford's runs on the day finishing 2-for-3 with a double, driving in four runs and scoring two more in the win. Chase Wade (Archdale, N.C.) was productive in all of his plate appearances, collecting two hits in addition to two sacrifice flies driving in two runs. Aaron Williams (Mocksville, N.C.) and Tonkins each matched his RBI total while Carter Blum (McLeansville, N.C.) and Michael Sumner (Mooresville, N.C.) served as great table-setters with three hits and multiple runs scored each in the contest.

Riley Ramsey finished 3-for-4 for the guests, with a double and an RBI. Matthew Wells drove in the other Bruin run on a triple.

Following a 30-minute delay to clear the tarp from the morning's rain in Greensboro, the Quakers offense was eager, jumping all over Legnard in the first. They greeted the Bruins southpaw with consecutive singles off the bats of Blum, Sumner, and Hairston, the last of which plated the games first run. GC followed with a couple of productive, run-scoring outs, the first on the ground by Williams and the second in the air from Wade, with a wild pitch mixed in, and boom. Just like that, 3-0 good guys.

Bob Jones got one back in the top of the second when J.C. Poe led-off with a single and Wells brought him home on three-bagger a couple of batters later before Guilford pulled away in the third and fourth frames.

GC got a pair of runners on with one away in the fourth as Sumner singled and Hairston reached on a fielders' choice in which the Bruins did not get an out. That set up Williams who split the left-center field gap to plate Sumner. Wade followed with his second sacrifice fly in as many plate appearances making the score 5-1. Then in the fourth, the Quakers loaded the bases, again with one out, on an Adam Anderson (Gastonia, N.C.) bunt single, a Tonkins walk, and a Blum single. Sumner's third knock of the game plated Anderson, although Tonkins was gunned down trying to score as well as both the runners advanced on the throw. Hairston plated the two Quakers remaining on the basepaths by rocketing a grounder inside of the first-base bag, extending the lead to 8-1.

The adversaries traded single runs in each half of the sixth. BJU put runners on the corners with two down before Ramsey banged one off the fence in straight-away center. The lead runner, Chad Bayne, scored no problem, but a textbook double-cut relay from Tonkins to Sumner to Williams cut down Zay Brandt at the plate, keeping the rally at bay. A Hairston sac fly in the home half countered the tally with the first baseman's fourth run batted in in the contest.

Guilford polished off the run-rule win in the bottom of the seventh. Wade and Nick Boles (Madison, N.C.) sparked the rally with consecutive knocks, followed by Grayson Tudor (Reidsville, N.C.) and Anderson drawing free passes, the latter of which forced in a run. That set the stage for Tonkins who lined a single into left, plating a pair, activating the run-rule, and "walking-off" the Bruins.

The Quakers host Bob Jones University for two more contests tomorrow to finish the weekend series. Game one is set to begin at noon at McBane Field.

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