PITTSBURGH (April 18) -- The Thiel College Baseball team posted an important sweep of Chatham University Friday evening in Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) play from West Field in Pittsburgh.

The Tomcats (12-19, 8-6) logged a come-from-behind 12-7 win in the opener and completed the sweep with a dramatic 10-9 win in the nightcap. The Cougars drop to 14-18 (6-8).

The Blue and Gold now sit alone in fourth place in the PAC as the top six teams will qualify for the PAC Championship Tournament.

Game 1 -- Thiel 12, Chatham 7

Thiel knotted things at 7 in the seventh as Fletcher Hindman (Pittsburgh, Pa./Baldwin) capped a string of three straight singles to score Cole Sherwin (Karns City, Pa./Karns City). A Chase Morrison (Monaca, Pa./Central Valley) sacrifice fly put the Tomcats ahead 8-7 in the frame. The visitors grew the lead to 11-7 in the eighth as Sherwin and Joey Schimizzi (Willowick, Ohio/Willoughby South) each had RBI singles to left center and Ethan Bintrim (New Castle, Pa./Shenango) produced a sac fly. Thiel plated 1 more insurance run in the ninth on a Calvin Cackowski (Wickliffe, Ohio/Wickliffe) double to lead 12-7.

Archie Teconchuk (Warren, Pa./Warren) escaped a bases-loaded jam in the eighth and worked a scoreless ninth to collect his first save of the year. 

Hindman finished with two RBIs while Sherwin was 2-for-5 with 2 runs and a RBI. Schimizzi and Bintrim each had three hits, a run and an RBI. Cackowski knocked a pair of doubles and had a run and RBI each.

Nick Jacobs (New Castle, Pa./Union) led off the fourth with a solo shot to dead center, growing Thiel's lead to 3-0. The Tomcats logged 2 more in the inning as Colton Brightwell (Eighty Four, Pa./Bentworth) and Morrison each produced run-scoring singles.

Jacobs finished 3-for-4 with 4 runs and a walk while Brightwell had a hit, a RBI and scored twice. Morrison collected a hit and two RBIs.

The Cougars answered with 6 in the fourth to lead 6-5 before the Tomcats knotted things in the fifth as Hindman brought in 1 on a hit by pitch. Chatham pulled ahead 7-6 in the fifth on a wild pitch.

Alec Katon (Ashtabula, Ohio/Edgewood) got the start and worked four innings to the tune of a no decision. Brady Rzodkiewicz (Erie, Pa./Harbor Creek) worked 3.2 innings of two-hit, scoreless relief with three strikeouts. He collected the win and improved to 2-1. 

Each Thiel starter collected at least one hit in the victory.

Game 2 -- Thiel 10, Chatham 9

Trailing 10-8 in the ninth with runners on the corners and Bintrim on the mound, Chatham popped up into shallow center and Sherwin raced back but was unable to make the catch as a run scored. The ball took a high bounce of the turf and Sherwin came to his feet, fielded the ball and threw a strike to the plate to gun down the potential tying run and seal the victory. 

Bintrim collected his first win of the year as he worked through 2.1 innings with a strikeout. At the plate, Sherwin had two hits and pushed his hitting streak to five.

Thiel broke a 7-all deadlock in the seventh as Brightwell roped a run-scoring triple to right center to make it 8-7. Schimizzi brought in 2 more in the eighth on a single up the middle to extend the lead to 10-7.

Brightwell went 4-for-6 with two triples, doubles and RBIs each as he extended his on-base streak to a career-best 15 games. Schimizzi smacked a pair of hits and knocked in 3. 

Thiel jumped ahead 1-0 in the first as Cackowski roped a run-scoring double. The Blue-and-Gold extended the lead to 2 on a Brightwell RBI triple in the second. Chatham evened things in the fourth, but Thiel responded with a pair in the top of the fifth, the second of which came on a Schimizzi single, to make it 4-2. The Tomcats surged ahead 7-3 in the sixth as Cackowski drilled his PAC-leading ninth homer of the year, a 2-run shot to left-center.

Cackowski extended his hitting streak to a career-best 14 games. He has produced multi-hit efforts in each of the last seven games and has reached base safely in a career-high 15 straight contests. He was 4-for-6 with a trio of RBIs, 2 runs and a double. 

The Cougars put the first two batters on in the sixth and were able to chase starter Nate Lucas (Pittsburgh, Pa./Taylor Allderdice) from the game after five-plus innings. The home side went on to plate 4 in the inning to tie things at 7.

Lucas K'd four in the outing and allowed six hits as he was stuck with a no decision.

Jacobs grew his hitting streak to 11 games with a pair of hits and scored once. Nathen Prunty (Elyria, Ohio/Keystone) was 3-for-6 as he pushed his on-base streak to a career-best 25 games and his hitting streak to eight.

Hindman had a base hit and his hitting streak now stands at 12 games while his on-base streak extended to a career-best 25. Morrison has now collected a hit in a career-high-tying 11 straight games.

Looking Ahead

Baseball will take on Westminster Wednesday in a road PAC DH at 1 p.m. The Titans sit one game back of Thiel for fourth in the PAC standings.