FORT MYERS, Fla. – The Thiel College baseball team split a pair of games Friday during play in the Gene Cusic Classic in Fort Myers, Fla. The Tomcats defeated the Augustana Vikings (7-5) before falling to the Bluffton Beavers (11-7).
 
Trailing 5-3, the Tomcats plated four runs in the bottom of the eighth to earn the win. Anthony Sebastian (Beaver Falls, Pa./Blackhawk) had the key hit, a 2-RBI single. Christian Aldrich (Cranberry Township, Pa./Central Catholic) also recorded a run-scoring single.
 
Travis Harvey (Boardman, Ohio/Boardman) came on to pitch in the ninth and refused to give up a run to earn the save. Sante Carducci (Toronto, Ohio/Toronto) threw the first six innings. Carducci allowed four earned runs on six hits with three strikeouts. Dylan Gurski (Boardman, Ohio/Boardman) picked up the win.
 
Sebastian went 3-for-4 with three RBIs and a double. Aldrich recorded two hits, including a solo home run in the sixth. Anthony Rago (Pittsburgh, Pa./Baldwin) hit a pair of doubles.
 
Jacob Barker paced the Vikings with two hits, including a bases-clearing triple in the fourth inning.
 
In the second game Friday, Thiel trailed Bluffton 7-1 midway through the fourth inning. The Tomcats inched closer in the bottom of the inning. Nash Matson (Kittanning, Pa./Armstrong) and Sebastian both drove in a run while Jamin Wentling (Greenville, Pa./Greenville) hit a run-scoring double.
 
Bluffton scored three more runs over the fifth and sixth innings before the Tomcats picked up a run in the seventh frame when Rago hit an RBI-single.
 
Bluffton scored its last run in the top of the ninth. In the bottom of the inning, Alec Gamble (Pittsburgh, Pa./Montour) hit an RBI-single while Seth Johnson (Magnolia, Ohio/Tuscarawas Valley) roped a run-scoring triple.
 
Gamble paced the Tomcats with three hits in the second game.
 
The Tomcats will continue play in the Gene Cusic Classic Saturday when they face the Olivet Comets at noon.