GREENVILLE, Pa. – The Thiel College baseball team swept a Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) doubleheader at Tomcat Park on Saturday against the Chatham Cougars. Thiel took both games by scores of 14-11 and 8-6.
In game one, Thiel grabbed an early 1-0 lead as
Nick Grice (McKeesport, Pa./McKeesport) singled to center field to score
Filippo Costanzo (Brunswick, Ohio/Brunswick) in the first. Chatham answered in the second as they collected four runs on four hits to take a 4-1 lead before
Zach Hudecek (Gibsonia, Pa./Deer Lakes) blasted his team leading fourth homerun of the season to pull the Tomcats within one after two.
After another four run inning by Cougars in the sixth, the Tomcats answered with back to back bases loaded walks by
Joe Mott (Kinsman, Ohio/Badger) and
Andrew Giesey (Penn, Pa./Penn Trafford) to take a 12-11 lead after seven. In the eighth, RBI's from Costanzo and
Daniel Patrice (Munich, Germany/EST) provided two insurance runs as the Tomcats secured the game one victory 14-11.
Grice went 3 for 4 with two RBI's in game one.
Game two saw Tomcat starter
Griffin Curry (Aliquippa, Pa./Hopewell) cruise through six innings allowing just one earned run and one walk before the Tomcat bullpen allowed the Cougars to claw back in the game.
Thiel found themselves up 2-1 in the sixth due to a Chatham fielding error and a
Jake Marino (Pittsfield, Pa./Youngsville) RBI double in the second inning. Chatham answered with a four run seventh inning that put the Cougars up 4-2. Thiel regained the lead in the bottom of the inning as they would plate four runners of a wild pitch and RBI's from Mott, Hudecek, and
Anthony Sebastian (Beaver Falls, Pa./Blackhawk).
A two run single by the Cougars in the eighth would tie game again before Lam singled up the middle to score two and give the Tomcats a two-run lead headed to the top of the ninth.
Spencer Rinaldi (Springfield, Ohio/Northwestern) then set the Cougars down in order to collect the win, Thiel took game two 8-6.
Hudecek went a perfect 4 for 4 from the plate in game two.
The Tomcats (7-11, 3-1 PAC) will host Bethany College on Wednesday for a conference doubleheader at Tomcat Park. First pitch for game one is set for 1:00 p.m.
