STEUBENVILLE, Ohio (April 11) — The Thiel College baseball team dropped both halves of a Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) doubleheader at Franciscan University Saturday afternoon and evening.
Thiel drops to 5-22 (2-10) as the Barons advance to 7-15 (4-8) with wins of 13-3 in game one and 10-8 in the nightcap.
Game 1: Thiel 3, Franciscan 13 (8 Inn.)
The Barons capped off the eighth inning with two runs to secure the 13-3 run rule win over the Tomcats.
Thiel got on the board in the fifth after four quiet frames to bring home
Joey Fell (Warren, Ohio/Champion) and
Zach Smith (Steubenville, Ohio/Steubenville) off a double to right field from
Calvin Cackowski (Wickliffe, Ohio/Wickliffe).
Cole Sherwin (Karns City, Pa./Karns City) was brought around the bags as
Brady Rzodkiewicz (Erie, Pa./Harbor Creek) hit a sacrifice fly out to center field.
Franciscan went off in the bottom of the fourth, scoring 10 unanswered runs.
Fell and
Colton Brightwell (Eighty Four, Pa./Bentworth) each snagged two hits in the contest, as Smith and Cackowski each had one.
Mason Suss (Monongahela, Pa./Ringgold),
Hewitt Wilt (Geneva, Ohio/Geneva) and
David White (Cranesville, Pa./Northwestern) shared time on the mound as Suss had two strikeouts and ended up with the loss.
Game 2: Thiel 8, Franciscan 10
Thiel put 4 on the board in third as
Aidan Ochs (Rostraver Township, Pa./Belle Vernon) and Smith each had RBI singles while
Kolten Kruszewski (Erie, Pa./Mercyhurst Prep) had a 2-run double to make it 4-1 Cats. Franciscan went on to add 7 across the fourth and fifth innings to lead 9-4.
The Blue and Gold made a late push as
Calvin Cackowski (Wickliffe, Ohio/Wickliffe) launched his league-leading eighth home run of the season in teh sixth to make it 9-6. The Tomcats added 2 more in the seventh to get within 1 at 9-8.
Thiel had the tying run in scoring position and the go-ahead run on base in the ninth but were unable to pull of a comeback.
