FT. PIERCE, Fla. (March 8) -- The Thiel College Baseball team opened its Florida spring break trip with a 9-3 victory over Lebanon Valley College Saturday afternoon at Lawnwood Baseball Complex.

The Tomcats improve to 1-2 while the Flying Dutchmen drop to 4-7. 

Thiel struck first with a Nick Jacobs (New Castle, Pa./Union) RBI single in the first to make it 1-0. A Calvin Cackowski (Wickliffe, Ohio/Wickliffe) sacrifice fly followed by a Fletcher Hindman (Pittsburgh, Pa./Baldwin) 2-run single gave Thiel a 4-0 edge in the third.

Hindman finished 3-for-3 with a trio of RBIs while Cackowski was 1-for-2 with a run, RBI and a walk each. Jacobs finished 2-for-4 with 2 runs and one RBI.

Lebanon Valley got on the board with a pair in the top of the fourth, but Thiel responded with a 4-spot in the bottom half of the frame to push the lead to 6-2. Nathen Prunty (Elyria, Ohio/Keystone) got the fourth-inning scoring going with a RBI single. With the bases juiced, Max Bihler (Delaware, Ohio/Olentangy Berlin) brought in 2 on a single while Hindman brought in the final run of the frame on a sac fly. 

Prunty had a pair of hits on the day to finish 2-for-4 with 2 runs and one RBI. Bihler tallied a career-best three hits to finish 3-for-5 with two RBIs and a run. 

After walking the leadoff man in the fifth, Alec Katon (Ashtabula, Ohio/Edgewood) responded by striking out the side to finish his afternoon.

Katon struck out six over five innings to collect his first win of the season and move to 1-1.

Brady Rzodkiewicz (Erie, Pa./Harbor Creek) logged a pair of hitless innings in relief with one strikeout while Archie Teconchuk (Warren, Pa./Warren) got the final six outs to seal the 9-3 victory. 

Ethan Bintrim (New Castle, Pa./Shenango) knocked one hit on the day and scored twice.

Baseball continues its Florida trip tomorrow with a 10 a.m. non-conference clash with Lasell.