Box Score SALEM, VA--The Roanoke College baseball team improved to 11-14 overall and 7-6 in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference with a 14-11 win over visiting Guilford College on Thursday night in Salem, VA. The Quakers fall to 21-13 and 10-6 with the loss.
The Maroons wasted no time jumping ahead of the Quakers. Justin Bradley led off the bottom of the first inning with a triple and a batter later scored the first run of the game on a
Brennan Thacker single.
With the bases loaded in the bottom half of the second, the Maroons took advantage of a timely hit and two Quaker errors.
Justin Brown hit safely up the middle, allowing Robby Hoopes and
Brandon Coates to come in and give the Maroons a 3-0 lead. On the play, the Guilford centerfielder was charged with an error, a miscue that allowed
Josh Ringstaff to come all the way home from first. Brown would later come around to score Roanoke's fourth run of the inning, giving the host team a 5-0 lead.
The Quakers cut into Roanoke's lead with two runs in the top of the third. Travis Clodfelter led off the inning with a double and came around to score on a Josh Miller single. Miller then plated the Quakers' second run on a Chad Boone double.
The Maroons built on their lead in the fourth, scoring two more times. Ringstaff singled and advanced to third on a Brown hit and another Guilford error. Ringstaff the scored Roanoke's sixth run on a Justin Bradley hit. Later in the inning, Mike Eubacnk came home to score Roanoke's seventh run of the game and give RC the 7-2 lead.
In just one inning of play, the Quakers evened things up, scoring five times in the top of the fifth inning. The Quakers got just two hits in the inning, but took advantage of a Maroon error, a hit batter, and two walks. Jeff Arzonico had the big hit for the Quakers in the inning, singling to drive in two runs. Miller and Brian Burton also had RBIs in the inning, Burton's coming on a sacrifice fly.
Three consecutive one-out hit led to another Maroon run in the fifth inning, a run that gave the Maroons the lead back. Robby Hoopes started the rally and moved to third on hits by
Brandon Coates and Ringstaff. A
Justin Brown groundout allowed Hoopes to score from third and give the Maroons an 8-7 lead.
The Quakers took their first lead of the game with two runs in the top of the seventh. Burton led off with a walk and moved to third on a Rob Bittner ground-rule double to left. Arzonico lifted a ball to right, a sacrifice fly that scored Burton, and Andrew Lerner grounded out to second, to score Bittner, and give GC the 9-8 lead.
That lead did not last long, as Ringstaff hit a two-run homer in the bottom of the seventh to give the Maroons the lead once again. Robby Hoopes doubled to deep center to get on base and scored on the long homer.
The Maroons tacked on four runs in the bottom of the eighth. Five hits led to the four-run outburst. Hoopes and Coates each had RBI singles, while Ringstaff doubled down the rightfield line to score two Roanoke baserunners.
The Quakers got two runs in the top of the ninth inning and appeared to have more on a long fly ball by centerfielder Fred Parent. However, Roanoke leftfielder Justin Bradley made a leaping catch at the wall, for the second out. One runner did score on the out. Ringstaff then made a sliding catch in centerfield to end the game.
The Maroons are back in action on Friday afternoon in a home game against the Generals of Washington & Lee University. The game will be played at Salem Memorial Stadium. The Maroons will then host Virginia Wesleyan in an ODAC double-header on Saturday afternoon at Salem's Kiwanis Field. The first of the two games begins at 12:00pm.
Roanoke vs. Guilford Box Score
