Rams' alum Guthridge making an impact for Ursinus

For Spring-Ford '08 alumnus Rich Guthridge, winning big games is something that he has become accustomed to doing over the course of his outstanding baseball career.

On Monday, when Ursinus College took the field needing to beat McDaniel College in both games of a double header to remain alive in the Centennial Conference playoff picture, it was Guthridge who stepped up to help lead the Bears to a 10-5 win in the opener and drove in five runs in an 18-11 romp over the Green Terror in the second game to complete the sweep.

With the back-to-back victories, a loss by Washington College today clinches the Bears the number four spot in the Centennial Conference tourney that starts Friday at Johns Hopkins.

“We needed to come out and take care of our end today,” said Guthridge. “We lost a few games early in the year that coach told us would bite us, and he was right. We had to get the bats going early and win both of these games. We are playing much better as a team than earlier in the season.”

Guthridge, who helped lead the Spring-Ford Rams to a 19-9 record and the PIAA class AAAA State championship final in 2008, has been an integral part of the development of the Bears into a Conference contender.

In the opener, the Bears (13-18 overall, 9-9 in conference play) got on the board in the second inning, posting three runs as Guthridge crossed the plate with the first run on an RBI single by Lou Argentine (Garnet Valley). Brandon Sullivan (Boyertown) then drove in two runs with a two-out double, but the lead was short lived as McDaniel wasted no time tying the game in the top of the third with a three spot of its own.

“We have been working to build something here,” said Guthridge. “We have guys I have played against all my life in the PAC-10 and [American] Legion ball. It has been pretty interesting all learning to play together as a team. It’s getting there. We are pretty young as we only have two seniors this season.”

With bases loaded in the home fourth, Guthridge laid down a perfect surprise squeeze bunt up the first base line and forced a bad throw by busting it down the line. The throwing error opened the floodgates as the Bears posted four in the frame and never looked back.

“That’s a play that we try when we see them playing back,” added Guthridge. “The key is getting the bunt down the first time you square, or there goes the surprise factor. We executed pretty well today. We will hopefully learn from us putting our own backs against the wall to prevent it from happening next year as we are looking to be very strong.”

If game one was the opening act, game two was the feature attraction, as Ursinus provided starter Nate Schnell (Boyertown) a seven run cushion to start the game, posting six runs in the bottom of the second inning. Schnell improved to 1-3 with the win.

Guthridge almost singlehandedly provided UC with the offense it needed as he went 3-for-5 in the back end of the double header, with two runs scored and five RBI. He also crushed his first home run of the season.

“It was pretty big day for us,” said Guthridge. “This is the kind of baseball that we are capable of. We needed to make the playoffs to be able to do any damage there. We have done what we needed to, now we have to see what happens at Hopkins [today].”

Ursinus blew the second game open in the home sixth as they scored eight runs on six hits in the inning, including Guthridge’s round tripper, to ice the 18-11 victory.

Ursinus will host Penn State-Berks at 4 pm on Tuesday in a non-league battle. Meanwhile, they will be watching the scoreboard of the Washington College at Johns Hopkins game.

With Ursinus holding the tiebreaker over Swarthmore, if Hopkins defeats Washington, the Bears will claim the number four spot. If Washington College wins, the garnet of Swarthmore would own the tiebreak in a three-team scenario. 

Scoring line-

Game one                                       R    H   E

 McDaniel  0  0  3  0  0  2  0  - 5   10   4

Ursinus      0  3  4  2  0  1  x  -10  12  2

 Guthridge-1b (SF)   2-for-3, 3 runs scored, 2 RBI

Game two                                                 R   H   E

 McDaniel   0  0  0  1  2  3  0  5  0  - 11  15  4

Ursinus      1  6  0  0  0  8  3  0  x  -  18  17  3

Guthridge- 1b (SF)  3- for 5, 2 runs scored, 5 RBI, home run (1)