BETHANY, W.Va. (March 28) -- The Thiel College Baseball team earned a Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) split against Bethany College Saturday from Bethany Stadium.
The Tomcats rise to 5-14 (2-4) as they dropped game one 8-5 and took the nightcap 4-3 over the Bison (13-7, 3-3).
Game 1 -- Thiel 5, Bethany 8
Thiel took advantage of three Bethany errors to open the second inning, one of which brought a run home. A
Joey Fell (Warren, Ohio/Champion) RBI single made it 2-0 while 2 more came home on a sacrifice fly and a bunt to make it 4-0.Â
Bethany plated 3 in the third to make it 5-4 before a two-out 3-run Bison homer in the fourth made it 7-5. The Cats brought the tying run to the dish in the ninth with one out but were unable to make any magic happen.
Fell finished with a hit, run and RBI each while
Colton Brightwell (Eighty Four, Pa./Bentworth) had a hit and a pair of RBIs.
Zach Smith (Steubenville, Ohio/Steubenville) logged a pair of runs.
Brady Rzodkiewicz (Erie, Pa./Harbor Creek) started for Thiel and lasted 2.1 innings while striking out four.
Hewitt Wilt (Geneva, Ohio/Geneva) worked five innings out of the pen and ultimately was tagged with the loss, falling to 0-2.Â
Game 2 -- Thiel 6, Bethany 3
The two sides exchanged a pair of runs each in the second as
Ivan Rudiak (Youngstown, Ohio/Boardman) lobbed a two-out, 2-run single. Bethany carried a 3-2 lead into seventh before a Brightwell RBI single knotted things at 3.
Thiel reclaimed the lead on a wild pitch in the eighth that scored Smith. The Cats added a pair of insurance runs in the ninth, 1 on a wild pitch and 1 more on a Brightwell single to spell the 6-3 final.
Brightwell knocked a pair of hits and drove in 2. Rudiak finished 2-for-3 with two RBIs and a run while Smith had a pair of hits to go with a walk and run each.
Dennis Fedele (Hermitage, Pa./Hickory) notched three strikeouts in five innings of work.
Isaiah Torres (Berea, Ohio/Berea-Midpark) continued his string 2026 campaign with four innings of scoreless relief to collect his first collegiate victory.
Looking Ahead
Thiel is back in action Monday for a single-nine against No. 15 Mount Union at 2 p.m. from Tomcat Park.
