PITTSBURGH (March 19) -- The Thiel College Baseball team dropped a non-conference single-nine showdown at La Roche University 13-5 Wednesday evening.
The Tomcats drop to 2-9 while the Red Hawks rise to 3-10.
La Roche jumped to a 1-0 lead in the first but Thiel answered in the second as a pair of walks and a hit by pitch loaded the bases for
Max Bihler (Delaware, Ohio/Olentangy Berlin) who cranked a 2-run double to left, getting Thiel on the board at 2-1. The Blue and Gold capitalized on two more walks and an error in the inning to get 3 more and make it 5-1.
Bihler,
Ethan Bintrim (New Castle, Pa./Shenango),
Calvin Cackowski (Wickliffe, Ohio/Wickliffe),
Fletcher Hindman (Pittsburgh, Pa./Baldwin) and
Nick Jacobs (New Castle, Pa./Union) each scored runs in the contest.
Chase Morrison (Monaca, Pa./Central Valley) drew a pair of walks.
The home side countered with 4 in the second to even things at 5. La Roche then added runs in the fifth, seventh and eighth to spell the 13-5 final.
Alec Katon (Ashtabula, Ohio/Edgewood) got the start and struck out four in two innings.
Nate Lucas (Pittsburgh, Pa./Taylor Allderdice) took the loss, falling to 1-2, as he gave up 2 runs and struck out two in four innings of relief.
Baseball returns to the diamond Saturday for a 1 p.m. non-conference doubleheader at Penn State Altoona.
