PHOTO GALLERYLATROBE, Pa. (April 8) - The Saint Vincent baseball team fell behind early and eventually dropped a 10-7 decision to Grove City in Presidents' Athletic Conference action at Bearcat Ballfield.
Grove City took advantage of an early Saint Vincent error and put up five runs in the top of the first inning. Junior center fielder
Luke Fox singled, stole second and came around to score on a two-out RBI single by senior infielder
Ben Webb, cutting the deficit to 5-1 after an inning of play.
The Wolverines' offense kept up the early offense, scoring two more runs in the second inning to take a commanding 7-1 lead. Neither team could push across a run in the third or fourth innings. SVC would tally three runs in the bottom of the fifth inning as they tried to chip away at the deficit. Designated hitter
Greg Martin walked to score senior
Jason Vater to make it 7-2. Webb then was hit by a pitch, forcing home catcher
Brennan Hoffer. Senior
Aaron Burger then followed that up with a sacrifice fly to score
TJ Kuny, making it 7-4.
The visitors answered right back with a three-spot of their own in the very next inning, regaining a six-run lead at 10-4. Saint Vincent scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh to cut the deficit back to three at 10-7. Martin and Vater each contributed with RBI singles, while junior third baseman
Chris Winkler added a sac fly.
From that point, the Grove City bullpen would take care of business, getting the final six outs to preserve the victory for the Wolverines.
Grove City scored 10 runs on 17 hits and also benefitted from two Bearcat errors and seven walks by SVC pitching. Five Wolverines had at least two hits.
Fox led the way for the SVC offense, with three hits and two runs scored. Fox also had the lone extra base hit for SVC, tallying a triple in the seventh inning.
Sophomore
Matt Whittaker took the loss on the mound for Saint Vincent, recording just one out in the loss. The Bearcat bullpen worked 8.2 innings, allowing five runs on 15 hits.
Freshman John Bini improved to 6-0 on the season for Grove City.
The loss was the third straight for SVC, who fell to 5-4 in PAC play and 12-10 overall. Grove City continued its hot start to the season, improving to 16-6 overall and 8-1 in league play.
The Bearcats will now play seven of its next nine games on the road. SVC travels to Thiel College for a single nine-inning game on Tuesday, April 12. First pitch is set for 4 p.m.
