WASHINGTON, Pa. - The Thiel College baseball team dropped the opening game of a three-game set with Washington and Jefferson College, 17-5 to open Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) play on Saturday.

Thiel fell behind 2-0 after one before Andrew Giesey (Penn, Pa./Penn Trafford) scored a two-run single to knot the game up at 2-2. The Presidents quickly regained the lead in the bottom of the inning as they put up three runs to take a 5-2 advantage after two.

Daniel Patrice (Munich, Germany/EST) and Nick Fowkes (New Eagle, Pa./Ringgold) registered RBIs in the fourth and fifth to pull within one run, Thiel trailed 5-4 in the fifth. 

The sixth inning proved to be the difference in the game as the Presidents collected 12 runs to take a decisive 17-4 lead, Thiel would add a run in the ninth as Christian Aldrich (Cranberry Township, Pa./Central Catholic) doubled to center to score Alex Lam (Springboro, Ohio/Springboro) to make it 17-5.

With the loss, Thiel goes to 0-1 in PAC play and will face the Presidents tomorrow at Tomcat Park for a PAC doubleheader, first pitch for game one is set for 1 p.m.