WASHINGTON, Pa. – In day two of the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) Championship Tournament, the Thiel College baseball team fell 8-1 to top-seeded Washington and Jefferson College. With the loss, Thiel is eliminated from the PAC Championship Tournament.
The fourth-seeded Tomcats contained the Presidents to no runs despite W&J collecting six hits. The Presidents left seven stranded in the first three innings.
The Tomcats were unable to take advantage at the plate as W&J starter Bryce Schnatterly retired every Tomcat in order before
Christian Aldrich (Cranberry Township, Pa./Central Catholic) singled to right center to give Thiel its first hit of the day in the fifth.
Schnatterly (7-0) went on to collect the win as he went 7.2 innings and allowed six hits and just one earned run.
W&J's Mullen Socha blasted a two-run home run to left that gave the Presidents a 2-0 advantage, before Dan Trettel doubled to left center to plate another run making it 3-0 Presidents in the fourth.
Down three in the sixth, Thiel had an opportunity to close or take the lead as
Filippo Costanzo (Brunswick, Ohio/Brunswick) and
Drew Dellert (Dover, Del./Poly-Tech) singled to put two runners on before
Alex Lam (Springboro, Ohio/Springboro) reached on a fielding error by the shortstop to load the bases with one out. Thiel was unable to capitalize as
Zach Hudecek (Gibsonia, Pa./Deer Lakes) struck out swining and
Christian Aldrich (Cranberry Township, Pa./Central Catholic) flew out to center to end the inning. Thiel trailed 3-0 after six.
The Presidents added another run in the seventh as a bases loaded walk scored Luke Zahren to make it 4-0 in favor of W&J. Thiel answered in the bottom of the inning as
Anthony Rago (Pittsburgh, Pa./Baldwin) hit an RBI single to score
Daniel Patrice (Munich, Germany/EST) to put Thiel on the board.
W&J added an insurance run off a sacrifice fly by Justin Griffin in the eighth to make it 5-1. Thiel came back with runners on the corners in the bottom of the inning with one two outs but were unable to close the gap as the game headed to the ninth.
The Presidents poured on three late runs to extend the lead in the ninth to 8-1. The Tomcats were retired in order in the bottom of the ninth to end the game.
Aldrich was named to the All-Tournament Team as a designated hitter.
Thiel ends the year with an overall record of 15-24 and finished fourth in the PAC Championship.
