HARRISONBURG, Va. – Royals Field played more like pre-humidor Coors Field on Saturday afternoon, as the Guilford College baseball team (21-13, 8-11 ODAC) engaged in a baseball doubleheader masquerading as a home run derby with Eastern Mennonite University (10-21, 5-14 ODAC), spitting the contests with a 15-11 defeat ahead of a 13-4 victory in Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) action.

Neither starter was very effective in game one. Marcello Ricigliano (Kernersville, N.C.) pitched 5.0 innings allowing six runs, all earned, on nine hits although he did not walk a man against two strikeouts. The junior finished on the hook for the defeat to fall to 0-5. Also notable, while not factoring into the decision, Jackson Marcellus (Chapel Hill, N.C.) was the first Quaker out of the bullpen, making his program-record-breaking 73^rd career appearance on the mound.

Josh Gjormand was not exactly better for the Royals although he did pitch the first 7.0 frames and got the win to improve to 4-1. Allowing 11 hits and two walks with three strikeouts, eight runs were charged to him, four of them earned. Ryan Gimbel got the final out with the tying run on deck making a save situation, his first.

Aaron Williams (Mocksville, N.C.) had a career day at the dish to lead the Guilford offense, going 5-for-6 including a pair of doubles, scoring once and driving in another. Skyler Dark (Pleasant Garden, N.C.) and Ryne Rodrigues (Summerfield, N.C.) possessed identical lines as they each went 2-for-6 with a home run, scoring once and driving in a pair. Ethan George (Burlington, N.C.) also went deep as a part of a 2-of-4 game, walking once, scoring twice, and driving in one.

Hitting five game one home runs, they Royals benefitted from a pair of big flies off the bat of Daniel McGinnis as he went 4-of-5, scoring twice and driving in two. Nick Arnold finished 3-for-5 including a home run, driving in a run. Aidan Miller and Dalton Rocke added a home run apiece while Noah Sanderson was not retired in game one, going 4-for-4 with three doubles, driving in three and scoring three times.

It was not the most pristine complete game, but it was the first collegiate complete game nonetheless in the game two effort from Jacob Phillips (Browns Summit, N.C.), getting the win to improve to 6-1. He allowed four runs, all earned, on ten hits, but he only walked one while striking out ten, the most by a Quaker this season.

The first of six hurlers in game two for EMU, Maxim Fritts only lasted 3.1 innings allowing five runs, four earned, on five hits and two walks. He suffered the loss to fall to 1-3.

George, Rylan Smith (Archdale, N.C.), and Chris Shoemaker (Winston-Salem, N.C.) all left the park in game two for the Quakers, with Smith and Shoemaker driving in three runs apiece and George scoring thrice. Dominic Pegues (Raleigh, N.C.) made the most of his first collegiate start, going 2-of-3 with a double and a run scored before exiting for a runner.

McGinnis and Rocke each went deep again in game two for Eastern Mennonite, posting identical 2-for-4 lines with a single on top of their solo shots. Miller added on two hits, scoring once and driving in one while Erik Wilkinson doubled and drove in a run in the contest.

GAME 1
Jumping on EMU starter, Josh Gjormand right away, Rylan Smith (Archdale, N.C.) drew a two-out walk then Aaron Williams (Mocksville, N.C.) plated him by lining one over the leaping third baseman and down the leftfield line. Smith beat the relay to the plate, diving headfirst into the plate as the ball popped free from the catcher's mitt, granting the Quakers the lead. The Royals countered in the bottom with Aidan Miller hitting his fifth home run of the season to left-center.

Guilford reclaimed the advantage in the second as Carter Blum (McLeansville, N.C.) singled back through the box, aggressively tagging up to advance on an Ethan George (Burlington, N.C.) flyout before Devin Tonkins (Greensboro, N.C.) brought him in with a single. The hosts kept the seesaw pattern going in the bottom of the third with Dylan Hall and Nick Arnold singling on each side of a Noah Sanderson double to even the score. A big double play hit by Miller did put the Eastern Mennonite in front, but still halted their momentum for the time being.

George had an immediate counter, bashing a 1-1 pitch and clearing the fence in left-center with his second home run of the season. Two batters later, Skyler Dark (Pleasant Garden, N.C.) followed suit, jumping the first pitch of his third trip to the plate and hitting it over the wall in right-center for his fourth longball of the campaign to get the edge on the scoreboard back. The ball just continued to explode off of bats in the bottom of the inning when Daniel McGinnis caught a barrel for his second homer of the spring, making it four-all at the end of four.

For the second-straight inning, Guilford connected on a go-ahead home run as this time it was Ryne Rodrigues (Summerfield, N.C.) who got ahold of one on a 1-1 offering, going to left-center with his third of the year but once again, Marcello Ricigliano (Kernersville, N.C.) had some trouble at the turn of the Royals nine. Sanderson doubled and Arnold hit his seventh homer of the season, a two-run shot and back-and-forth it continued to go with the tallies now 6-5 in favor of the guests.

EMU created some breathing room in the sixth as GC turned to Jackson Marcellus (Chapel Hill, N.C.) who walked two and hit a batter to load the bases, with the first out mixed in. Sanderson made them pay, ripping his third double of the game to right-center to plate a pair. Arnold singled in a run but Jack Ratliff (Greensboro, N.C.) picked him off in what could have been a huge play to try and get out of it, but Miller singled in the run anyways. Ratliff finally got out of it by inducing a rollover to second, but the score was 10-5.

A Smith single and Williams double to open the top of the seventh granted GC a golden scoring chance before the first two outs were recorded putting the guests on the verge of squandering the opportunity. They got a little help avoiding that outcome, however, as Blum rolled one over to third, but the throw across the diamond went airy, allowing Smith to score and Blum to advance. George followed and also reached on an error, this one by the leftfielder, as both runners came in and suddenly GC was right back in the ballgame at 10-8.

Unfortunately, that is as close as the Quakers would get. EMU scored three in the bottom of the inning before McGinnis and Dalton Rocke hit back-to-back home runs. The guests showed fight, getting the tying run into the on-deck circle, plating a trio of runs and threatening for more, but Ryan Gimbel entered for EMU and got the final out with a 15-11 score.

GAME 2
Each team scored one run in the first of the late contest as in the top half, Skyler Dark (Pleasant Garden, N.C.) walked to open the ballgame, advanced on a wild pitch and scored on an Aaron Williams (Mocksville, N.C.) single. In response, Nick Arnold singled to leadoff for the Royals although he was replaced by Aidan Miller via a fielder's choice. Erik Wilkerson doubled him in, but Jacob Phillips (Browns Summit, N.C.) avoided further trouble.

Guilford would blow the game open in the fourth against Maxim Fritts. Ryne Rodrigues (Summerfield, N.C.) led off with a double then Chris Shoemaker (Winston-Salem, N.C.) followed, crushing the first pitch the other way and off the scoreboard in left at Royals Field for his first collegiate home run. Dominic Pegues (Raleigh, N.C.) reignited things two batters later, connecting on his first collegiate extra-base hit with a double ahead of a Christian Chinen (Honolulu, Hawaii) single. Dark plated the freshman with a groundout before Ethan George (Burlington, N.C.) and Rylan Smith (Archdale, N.C.) each took walks to fill the bases. Chinen and George both came home when Williams reached on an error, and while GC would not score anymore, they had seized a lead they would not relinquish, 6-1.

Dalton Rocke connected on a solo homer in the bottom of the fourth, to narrow things some before Phillips and the EMU bullpen settled in for a few innings. Eventually, the squads traded singular runs in the seventh and eighth innings. In the seventh, Rodrigues tripled to left-center and came home when Shoemaker reached on an E3 in the top half before a Noah Sanderson single, steal, advancement, and score on a Miller hit. Then in the eighth, George ripped his second home run of the twin bill, clobbering a 2-0 pitch for a no-doubter that had Wilkerson take just a few half-hearted trots before watching it sail over the scoreboard in left, but McGinnis responded in kind with his third longball of the day.

The Quakers finally put it out of reach in the ninth. Shoemaker opened with a single but Cole Price (Summerfield, N.C.) ran in his place and was picked off. Carter Blum (McLeansville, N.C.) got plunked, Grayson Tudor (Reidsville, N.C.), who had earlier pinch-ran for Pegues, doubled, and Collin McGuire (Wilkesboro, N.C.) came through with a pinch-hit sacrifice fly. Blum scored easily, but after the throw home, the Royals tried to get the trail runner, Tudor, at third and the throw got away, allowing him to score too. Dark and George got hits prompting a pitching change and Smith greeted the fresh wing by driving his third home run of the season, and first in nearly two months to straight-away center, to make the score 13-4. Phillips made sure the game finished by that score, fanning three around a walk to put the finishing touches on his complete game to grab the breakeven day.

It is another pivotal conference clash next for Guilford, as they head up to Roanoke College to battle the Maroons in a midweek showdown on Tuesday, April 22 with first pitch at 3:00 PM.

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