WASHINGTON, Pa. (March 25) -- The Thiel College Baseball team dropped a pair to Washington and Jefferson College Tuesday in their Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) opener from Ross Memorial Park.
The Tomcats fall to 4-13 while the Presidents rise to 12-4 with victories of 9-3 in game one and 13-3 in game two.
Game 1 -- Thiel 3, W&J 9
The opener was scoreless into the third inning as neither side mustered a hit. The lone baserunners came in the second as
Nathen Prunty (Elyria, Ohio/Keystone) and
Ethan Bintrim (New Castle, Pa./Shenango) drew a pair of walks, but the Tomcats were unable to push a run across. In the bottom of the third, a two-out walk kept the inning alive and the Presidents capitalized with a 3-run shot to go ahead 3-0. The home side added 2 more in the fourth with a 2-run homer to lead 5-0.
Prunty extended his on-base streak to 10 in the defeat, but his career-best nine-game hitting streak came to a halt. Bintrim finished 1-for-2 with a run and a walk.
Thiel got on the board in the fifth as
Cole Sherwin (Karns City, Pa./Karns City) had a RBI fielders choice. The Blue and Gold loaded the bases later in the inning but were unable to put up a crooked number. Bintrim and
Max Bihler (Delaware, Ohio/Olentangy Berlin) singled to open the seventh and Sherwin brought home Bintrim with a run-scoring double to make it 8-2. Thiel added 1 more in the inning to make it 8-3. The home side tacked on 1 more in the eighth to spell the 9-3 final.
Sherwin was 1-for-4 with two RBIs while Bihler collected a hit.
Calvin Cackowski (Wickliffe, Ohio/Wickliffe) drew two walks and scored once.
Nate Lucas (Pittsburgh, Pa./Taylor Allderdice) got the start for Thiel and worked through five innings while striking out two. He took the loss, falling to 1-3.
Game 2 -- Thiel 3, W&J 13 (8 Inn.)
Alec Katon (Ashtabula, Ohio/Edgewood) got the ball for Thiel in game two and struck out four in the first two innings but allowed runs in the first and third, putting Thiel in a 3-0 hole.
The bats got going in the fourth as
Calvin Cackowski (Wickliffe, Ohio/Wickliffe) raked his second homer of the year, an opposite-field shot to right, to make it 3-1. With two outs, the Tomcats strung together three straight hits as Bintrim doubled then Bihler and Sherwin followed suite with back-to-back singles, the last of which made it 3-2.
Fletcher Hindman (Pittsburgh, Pa./Baldwin) drew a walk to load the bases, but the Blue and Gold were unable to tie or take the lead.
Bintrim finished with a hit and run while Bihler was 2-for-3 with a walk. Sherwin added two more hits and a RBI in the nightcap.
Katon struck out two more in the bottom of the fourth, and the Thiel bats stayed hot as singles from
Colton Brightwell (Eighty Four, Pa./Bentworth) and Prunty along with a Cackowski hit by pitch loaded the bases. A double play brought home 1 but thwarted Thiel's hopes of a big inning.
Prunty extended his on-base streak to 11 while Brightwell scored a run.
After holding the home side in check for four innings, the Presidents got to Katon with a 3-spot in the fifth and 1 more in the sixth to end his afternoon. The home side went on to add 3 more runs in the each of the sixth and eighth innings to spell the eight-inning final.
Katon was solid for most of the afternoon into the early evening as he struck out six and walked zero. He ultimately took the loss to fall to 1-3 on the young season.
Looking Ahead
Baseball returns to the diamond Thursday for a 2 p.m. single-nine-inning showdown with non-conference foe Hiram at Tomcat Park.
