WASHINGTON, Pa. (May 8) -- The Thiel College Baseball team was eliminated from the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) Championship Tournament by Saint Vincent College 15-12 in a 10-inning heartbreaker Thursday afternoon at Washington and Jefferson College's Ross Memorial Park in Washington, Pa.
The Tomcats (14-27, 10-9) held a 10-4 edge after a 6-run fifth inning, but the Bearcats (19-21, 11-9) chipped away and tied things in the ninth before plating 5 in extras to seal the win.
Thiel led 10-9 in the ninth as
Charlie Luedtke (Mars, Pa./Mars Area) looked to secure a 2.2-inning save. The Bearcats singled to open the inning and the runner advanced to third with two outs. Down to his last strike in an 0-2 count, Derek Hald smacked a two-hopper infield single to the right side to tie things at 10. Saint Vincent went on to load the bases via a walk and hit by pitch, but
Tony Malone (Sharpsville, Pa./Lakeview) entered and escaped the jam.
Luedtke worked through 2.1 innings while Malone registered two outs and was hit with the loss to fall to 0-1.
The Bearcats loaded the bases without a hit in the 10th and went on to plate 5 to lead 15-10.
Colton Brightwell (Eighty Four, Pa./Bentworth) and
Fletcher Hindman (Pittsburgh, Pa./Baldwin) singled to open the bottom of the 10th and both scored as Brightwell crossed home on a sacrifice fly and Hindman strutted home on a
Nathen Prunty (Elyria, Ohio/Keystone) single to put the tying run on deck.
Calvin Cackowski (Wickliffe, Ohio/Wickliffe) cracked a sharp liner right to the left fielder for the final out.
Brightwell and Hindman each had 2 runs, a hit and a RBI in the loss.
Thiel used a 6-run fifth inning to break a 4-all deadlock and lead 10-4.
Chase Morrison (Monaca, Pa./Central Valley), Prunty and Cackowski singled to open the frame and load the bases for
Nick Jacobs (New Castle, Pa./Union), who drew a bases loaded walk to make it 5-4.
Ethan Bintrim (New Castle, Pa./Shenango) produced a sac fly to push the lead to 2 while 1 more scored on a fielders choice.
Cole Sherwin (Karns City, Pa./Karns City) capped the inning with a bases-clearing double just out of the reach of the charging center fielder to make it 10-4.
Cackowski finished 3-for-6 with 3 runs while Prunty had a pair of hits and a RBI. Morrison notched a pair of hits and scored once. Jacobs had two hits, scored 3 times and produced a RBI and walk each.
Sherwin finished with a hit and three RBIs while Bintrim had a hit, two RBIs and a walk.
Thiel erased a 2-run deficit in the fourth as Bintrim and Brightwell each brought runs home. Joey Schmizzi logged a run-scoring single in the second that got Thiel on the board. Schimizzi finished with a hit, run and RBI each.
Alec Katon (Ashtabula, Ohio/Edgewood) started for Thiel and worked three innings to break the program record for career innings pitched with 260.2. He finished with four K's and allowed 4 runs.
Bintrim worked three innings in relief and punched out three while allowing 1 run.
