WASHINGTON, Pa. (May 7) -- The No. 6 Thiel College Baseball team dropped the opening game of the 2025 Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) Championship Tournament 7-1 to No. 1 Washington and Jefferson College Wednesday afternoon at Ross Memorial Park in Washington, Pa.

The Tomcats fall to 14-26 and will play in an elimination game tomorrow at 11 a.m. against the loser of No. 2 Grove City College versus No. 5 Saint Vincent College. The Presidents improve to 27-13 and will take on the loser of No. 3 Allegheny versus No. 4 Westminster tomorrow at 2:30 p.m.

Calvin Cackowski (Wickliffe, Ohio/Wickliffe) doubled to open the second, and Nick Jacobs (New Castle, Pa./Union) smacked a single to left to put runners on the corners with no outs. W&J ace Dante DiMatteo escaped the jam with a double play and a ground out to thwart Thiel's run-scoring chance. Joey Schimizzi (Willowick, Ohio/Willoughby South) lined a single off of DiMatteo to open the third and advanced to second on a sacrifice, but Thiel was unable to get on the board.

Schimizzi finished 2-for-3 while Jacobs and Cackowski each had a hit. 

The Presidents plated 3 in the fourth, 2 in the fifth and capitalized on a pair of errors in the seventh to extend the lead to 7-0. Thiel mustered just 1 run in the eighth after loading the bases with nobody out to spell the 7-1 final.

Nate Lucas (Pittsburgh, Pa./Taylor Allderdice) got the start and worked the first three innings scoreless as he retired five in a row from the second through the third. He was chased after 4.1 innings and took the loss to fall to 2-7 as he K'd a pair in the outing. Archie Teconchuk (Warren, Pa./Warren) worked 2.2 innings in relief with two K's while Dillon Belknap (Lagrange, Ohio/Keystone) tossed a one-two-three eighth.

Thiel will continue PAC Tournament play in an elimination game tomorrow at 11 a.m. against the loser of No. 2 Grove City College versus No. 5 Saint Vincent College.