GREENSBORO, N.C. - Head Coach Mike Victory earned his first-career collegiate head coaching victory in an extra-inning classic, as the Brevard College baseball team (1-4) split a Saturday afternoon doubleheader to Guilford College (2-2) in Greensboro, North Carolina.
The Tornados rallied from one-run down in the top of the seventh inning, tying the contest before scratching across the go-ahead run in the top of the ninth inning. Brevard shut the door in the bottom half of the extra frame to seal Coach Victory's first W at the helm of the Brevard Baseball program.
Brevard fell in the front end of the doubleheader in heartbreaking fashion, 4-3, as the Quakers completed the comeback and sunk the Tornados.
GAME TWO: BREVARD 12, GUILFORD 11
Junior right-handed pitcher Ben Melton was given the start for the Tornados in the second game of Saturday's doubleheader, a contest that would morph into a shootout very quickly. Melton lasted three innings, letting up four earned runs on three hits.
The Tornados accumulated a grand total of 17 hits in Saturday's second contest, a total that marks BC's highest hit total since Brevard accumulated 18 base hits on March 30, 2019, against Greensboro College.
Sophomore infielder Jason Jucker accounted for four of BC's massive hit count, striking for an RBI and a double as well. Jucker joined Brett Burchett (two hits), Daiquon Davenport (two hits), Christian Ezzell (three hits), Brandin Johnson (two hits) and Beau Shealy (three hits) as one of six Tornados to log a multiple-hit performance.
Burchett sparked Brevard's offense midway through the contest, lifting a two-run homer down the left-field line. Ezzell and Shealy each accounted for three hits apiece, as Ezzell scored two runs while Shealy logged two RBI's - including the eventual game-winner. Johnson's afternoon was highlighted by a bases-clearing triple, while Davenport scored three runs and hit a pair of doubles en route to a two-RBI day.
Samuel Goude (1-0) earned his first collegiate victory decision by coming in relief to work an important 3.1 innings of three-hit ball without allowing a single run.
The Quakers jumped out to an early 3-0 advantage thanks to a pair of runs in the first coupled with a single run in the second frame that scored on a BC throwing error.
Shealy recorded the first of his two RBI's in the top half of the third inning, as the native of nearby East Flat Rock, North Carolina hit a sacrifice fly that scored Davenport.
After Guilford tacked on another run via a homer, the Tornados stepped up to the plate in the top of the fourth and let loose, using Davenport's two-RBI double and Burchett's round-tripper to take their first lead of the afternoon, 5-4.
Guilford would retake the lead, 6-5 in the bottom half of the fourth frame off an RBI-double and passed ball, however, BC answered the call to action by scoring five runs in the top of the fifth inning to take a 10-6 lead.
The Quakers used the bottom of the fifth and sixth frames to claw back at BC's lead, eventually jumping on the Tornado bullpen for five runs over the course of those two frames to retake the lead, 11-10.
With two outs and their backs against the wall, the Tornados found a spark when Burchett drew a two-out wall. Jack Atkinson pinch ran for the catcher and was in perfect position to score off Jucker's RBI single that knotted the contest up at 11-11, sending the back end of the doubleheader into extra innings.
After neither side was able to muster a score in the eighth inning, Shealy delivered an RBI single that put the Tornados up by one run, 12-11.
Goude went back out to the mound after the top half of the ninth inning and slammed the door shut on the hosts, forcing three-consecutive putouts to seal the wild win, 12-11.
GAME ONE: GUILFORD 4, BREVARD 3
Veteran senior Kross Robinson got the nod for the mound in the front end of the doubleheader. The senior from Morganton, North Carolina pitched 6.2 innings of six-hit, two earned run ball while striking out an impressive nine batters during that stretch.
Johnny Flynn drove in Brevard's lone earned run of the contest, as the senior from Hillsborough, North Carolina was one of six different Tornados to record a hit in the matchup.
The Tornados were able to jump out to a steady three-run cushion through the contest, first four innings before the Quakers answered back, cutting the BC lead to one run, 3-2, with one more inning left to play.
The bottom of the seventh inning proved to be decisive against the Tornados, as Robinson struck out two batters and was an out away from clinching the victory. However, with a runner on first base, a single scored the tying run while the game-winning run was moved just 90 feet away after a fielding error by the BC right fielder. A costly wild pitch proved the deciding factor as the Tornados fell narrowly, 4-3.
Brevard will be in search of the series win tomorrow afternoon as the Tornados conclude their three-game set against Guilford in a rubber match with first-pitch slated for 1 p.m. at Edgar McBane Field.
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