GREENVILLE, Pa. (Feb. 28) -- The Thiel College Baseball team opened the 2026 season with a pair of losses to Juniata College in a non-conference doubleheader from Tomcat Park Saturday afternoon.
The Tomcats sit at 0-2 while the Eagles rise to 2-0.
Game 1: Thiel 3, Juniata 14
The season opener looked prime to be a back-and-forth slugfest as the visitors put 3 on the board in the opening inning before the Tomcats responded with 3 of there own to even the contest.
Max Bihler (Delaware, Ohio/Olentangy Berlin) roped a RBI double to center while
Calvin Cackowski (Wickliffe, Ohio/Wickliffe) followed with a 2-run-opposite-field homer to make it 3-3.
The Juniata bats stayed hot as they added 4 runs in the second, 1 in the third and 5 more in the fourth to put the game out of reach at 13-3.
Dennis Fedele (Hermitage, Pa./Hickory) made his first collegiate start in the opener, working through two innings with a pair of strikeouts as he was tagged with the loss.
Isaiah Torres (Berea, Ohio/Berea-Midpark) worked 3.2 innings of 1-run ball in relief with a strikeout.
Bihler, Cackowski and
Cole Sherwin (Karns City, Pa./Karns City) accounted for Thiel's 3 runs and hits, with all three logging one of each.
Game 2: Thiel 3, Juniata 5
Trailing 5-0 in the seventh, the Thiel bats came alive as singles from
Colton Brightwell (Eighty Four, Pa./Bentworth) and
Devin Gruver (Hermitage, Pa./West Middlesex) loaded the bases with one out. The Cats got 1 on a
Hewitt Wilt (Geneva, Ohio/Geneva) sac fly and 2 more on a
Joey Fell (Warren, Ohio/Champion) single to get within 2 at 5-3 and bring the winning run to the plate. The visitors managed to escape the jam to come away with the win.
Brightwell, Fell and Gruver each finished with a hit in the loss. Fell (2 RBIs) and Wilt (1) drove in all of Thiel's runs.
Juniata jumped out the gates strong with 3 in the first and 1 in the second to lead 4-0. Thiel was held hitless in the first four innings before
Joey Schimizzi (Willowick, Ohio/Willoughby South) knocked a leadoff single in the fifth.
Schimizzi finished with a hit and
Zach Smith (Steubenville, Ohio/Steubenville) reached base three times with a single and a pair of walks.
Brady Rzodkiewicz (Erie, Pa./Harbor Creek) got the game-two nod and worked six-plus innings. Following the second inning, he worked 1-2-3 innings in the third, fourth and sixth.Â
Looking Ahead
Thiel is back in action Monday for a single-nine-inning matchup with Pitt Greensburg from Tomcat Park at 2 p.m.
