GREENVILLE, Pa. – The Thiel College baseball team swept a Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) doubleheader over Grove City College Saturday. Thiel won the first game 3-1 and earned a walk-off 4-3 victory in the second game.
The Wolverines opened scoring in the fourth inning of the first game when Nolan Myers hit an RBI-single through the right side, which scored Matt Waugaman.
The Tomcats answered in the bottom half of the inning when
Filippo Costanzo (Brunswick, Ohio/Brunswick) singled to right field to score
Jake Marino (Pittsfield, Pa./Youngsville) and tied the game at 1-1 after four.
Costanzo singled again as he drove in
Daniel Patrice (Munich, Germany/EST) to make it 2-1, and
Zach Hudecek (Gibsonia, Pa./Deer Lakes) singled to score
Nick Fowkes (New Eagle, Pa./Ringgold) which made it 3-1 after six innings.
Three runs proved to be enough support for the Tomcat pitching staff as Starter
Tanner Teconchuk (North Warren, Pa./Warren) threw six and two-thirds innings and allowed just one run to improve to 1-1 on the season.
Kevin Forrester (Canonsburg, Pa./Canon-McMillan) recorded the final out and picked up his first save of the season.
In the second game,
Nick Grice (McKeesport, Pa./McKeesport) doubled to score Costanzo in the second to put Thiel up 1-0 after two.
Nick Fowkes (New Eagle, Pa./Ringgold) doubled to left field to score
Jake Marino (Pittsfield, Pa./Youngsville) to put the Tomcats up 3-0 after six innings.
In the seventh inning with Thiel leading 3-1, Travis Auth hit a two-run home run to tie the game and force extra innings.
The Tomcats walked off on a fielder's choice to third which Hudecek tried to advance on to only be out at home. Grove City then threw the ball away trying to tag Marino out at first and advanced
Andrew Giesey (Penn, Pa./Penn Trafford) for the winning run.
Starter
Nate White (Franklin, Pa./Rocky Grove) went six innings and allowed only one run on two hits.
Nick Bucci (Pittsburgh, Pa./Allderdice) picked his third win of the year in two innings of relief.
The Tomcats have won eight straight games and are 4-0 in PAC play.
Thiel (11-5, 4-0 PAC) will return to action Monday when they take on the Grove City Wolverines on the road. The 9-inning PAC game is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. Thiel's non-conference road game against John Carrol University originally scheduled for Sunday, April 2 has been postponed and no makeup date has been determined.
