GREENVILLE, Pa. – The Thiel College baseball team split a pair of Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) games against the Grove City Wolverines Saturday afternoon at Tomcat Park.
Thiel won game one 7-1 before Grove City took game two 17-0.
Prior to the game, seniors
Alec Katon (Ashtabula, Ohio/Edgewood),
Chase Morrison (Monaca, Pa./Central Valley),
Nick Jacobs (New Castle, Pa./Union),
Mike Sittig (Monaca, Pa./Central Valley),
Yoshinori Hashimoto (Tokyo, Japan/Arakawa) and
Carson Britton were honored for senior day.
Game 1
Game one was a pitcher's dual through the first five innings.
Nick Jacobs (New Castle, Pa./Union) broke the deadlock in the in the fourth inning when he singled up the middle to bring in
Mike Sittig (Monaca, Pa./Central Valley).
Thiel extended their lead in the sixth inning when Jacobs doubled to right center, before
JT Gerle Jr. (Ambridge, Pa./Ambridge) reached on a fielding error that scored a run to make it 3-0.
Grove City cut the Thiel lead to 3-1 in the seventh, before Jacobs answered in the bottom half of the inning with a double to center field.
Thiel added three insurance runs in the eighth inning, two by virtue of walks, to make the score 7-1.
Thiel was led by
Nick Jacobs (New Castle, Pa./Union) who went 3-for-4 with three RBIs.
Ethan Bintrim (New Castle, Pa./Shenango) went 2-for-3 with two walks, while
Nathen Prunty (Elyria, Ohio/Keystone) went 1-for-4 with an RBI.
Mike Sittig (Monaca, Pa./Central Valley) also went 2-for-4 with an RBI.
Grove City was led by Markus Williams who went 2-for-4, while Luke Vittone also went 2-for-4. Treyton Sarvis drove in the Wolverines only run.
Alec Katon (Ashtabula, Ohio/Edgewood) got the start on the mound, going all nine innings for his first career complete game. He fanned four batters and only walked one. He gave up one run on six hits.
Evan Umland started for Grove City, going 5 2/3 innings, fanning eight and allowing three runs.
Game 2
Grove City took a 5-0 lead in the first inning, and that is all they would need.
The Wolverines added one run in the third and fourth innings, seven in the fifth, two in the sixth and one in the seventh for the PAC win.
Thiel was led by
Cole Sherwin (Karns City, Pa./Karns City), who recorded the Tomcats only hit. Jacobs,
Rufus Byler (Hadley, Pa./Greenville) and
Andrew McRoberts (Cortland, Ohio/Lakeview) all recorded walks.
Grove City was led by Josh Minnich who went 3-for-4 with four RBIs. Nick Sampson recorded three RBIs, while Micheal Earman also recorded three RBIs.
Brady Rzodkiewicz (Erie, Pa./Harbor Creek) started for Thiel, going three innings, allowing six runs. Brock Matthew,
Nick Ondo (Sharon, Pa./Kennedy Catholic),
Archie Teconchuk (Warren, Pa./Warren) and
Blake Gibson (Ambridge, Pa./Ambridge) all pitched in relief.
The Tomcats will return to action on Sunday when they host the Mount Union Purple Raiders. The single nine inning game is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m.
