WASHINGTON, Pa. – The Thiel College baseball team opened play in the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) Championship Tournament with a 4-3 loss to Thomas More College.
Thiel starter
Matt Gayda (Pittsburgh, Pa./Allderdice) and Thomas More starter Jayson Essell both cruised through the early innings as neither offense could get on the board. Tomcat catcher
Andrew Giesey (Penn, Pa./Penn Trafford) changed that in the fifth as he blasted his third home run of the year to make it 2-0 in favor of Thiel. Thomas More would answer in the bottom of the inning on an RBI ground out by Ben Laumann to cut the Thiel lead in half after five.
The Tomcats struck again in the sixth as
Zach Hudecek (Gibsonia, Pa./Deer Lakes) smashed his team leading seventh home run of the year. The opposite field shot put Thiel up 3-1. Thomas More came back in the seventh as Brady Reynolds singled to left field to score two and tie the game at 3-3 after seven.
In the eighth,
Alex Lam (Springboro, Ohio/Springboro) smacked a ground-rule double over the right field fence to put a runner in scoring position with one out.
Daniel Patrice (Munich, Germany/EST) singled through the left side to advance Lam to third. But the Tomcats were unable to bring home the runner as Hudecek drilled a ball just within the reach of shortstop Jacob Whitford for the second out before
Christian Aldrich (Cranberry Township, Pa./Central Catholic) flew out to left for the final out of the inning.
The Saints picked up the go ahead run in the eighth as a throwing error by the Tomcats would score Sean Lawrence to make it 4-3. Thiel could not extend the game in the ninth as the Tomcats went down in order in their final at bat, as they fell 4-3.
Thomas More starter Essell (7-2) went the distance picking up a complete game win. Tomcat reliever
Sante Carducci (Toronto, Ohio/Toronto) (3-3) collected the loss.
With the loss, Thiel will play the first-seeded Presidents of Washington and Jefferson as the fourth-seeded Bearcats of Saint Vincent took Game B by a final score of 4-2. Game D will be played tomorrow at 3:00 p.m. at Ross Memorial Park. The loser of Game D will be eliminated.
