FT. PIERCE, Fla. (March 11) -- The Thiel College Baseball team dropped a 5-3 affair with RV Gettysburg College Tuesday afternoon in non-conference action from Lawnwood Baseball Complex in Ft. Pierce, Fla.
The Tomcats fall to 1-4 while the Bullets remain unbeaten and rise to 10-0.
Trailing 2-1 in the bottom of the seventh,
Joey Schimizzi (Willowick, Ohio/Willoughby South) was hit by a pitch to open the inning and advanced to third on a pair of sacrifice bunts.
Colton Brightwell (Eighty Four, Pa./Bentworth) came through with a two-out RBI single to even things at 2.
Brightwell finished 3-for-5 with 2 RBIs and a stolen base. Schimizzi reached base twice, each time on a hit by pitch, and scored a run.
Gettysburg answered in the eighth after a pair of singles led to a 3-run jack over the right-field wall to make it 5-2. A
Chase Morrison (Monaca, Pa./Central Valley) single followed by a full-count walk to
Max Bihler (Delaware, Ohio/Olentangy Berlin) loaded the bases for Thiel in the bottom of the eighth, but the Bullets escaped the frame unscathed.
Aidan Ochs (Rostraver Township, Pa./Belle Vernon) singled and advanced to third on a throwing error to open the ninth. Brightwell brought him in with a base knock up the middle to make it 5-3. The Blue and Gold had the tying run at the plate twice in the ninth but were unable to knot things at 5 as Gettysburg escaped with the win.
Morrison finished 2-for-4 while Ochs was 1-for-3 with a run.
Brady Rzodkiewicz (Erie, Pa./Harbor Creek) got the start for Thiel and logged a quality start with six innings of 2-run ball to go with four strikeouts. He allowed at least one base runner in each inning but skirted danger in all but the second inning.
The start was Rzodkiewicz's first of the season. He has totaled 11 innings of work and allowed only 2 runs on the year for a 1.64 ERA.
Archie Teconchuk (Warren, Pa./Warren) worked a scoreless seventh but was tagged with all the earned runs in the seventh to take the loss.
Mason Suss (Monongahela, Pa./Ringgold) logged the final 1.2 innings of scoreless relief.
In total, Thiel left nine men on base and were 2-for-8 with runners in scoring position.
Baseball returns to action Thursday for a doubleheader with Marywood at 10 a.m. from Lawnwood Baseball Complex Field 1.
