GREENVILLE, PA - With a dramatic comeback win in the opener and an offensive explosion in the nightcap, the Bearcats swept Thiel by scores of 5-4 and 15-6 in a Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) doubleheader at Tomcat Park.
The sweep lifts the Bearcats' record to 9-7 overall and 8-5 in the PAC, while the Tomcats fall to 5-11 overall and 4-10 in conference play.
GAME ONE – Saint Vincent 5, Thiel 4
Trailing 4-3 in the top of the sixth inning, the Bearcats scored runs in each of the final two frames to complete the comeback and earn the 5-4 victory in the back-and-forth affair.
Zack VonStein went a perfect 3-for-3 at the dish, including a seventh-inning single that led the eventual game-winning run, while
Matt Evans drove in two RBIs and threw 2.1 scoreless innings of relief to earn his fourth win of the season, tied for tops in the PAC.
After SVC tied the game with a run in the sixth inning, VonStein's single started the game-winning rally in the top of the seventh. He was replaced by pinch runner
Alex Legge, who promptly took second on a wild pitch. Two batters later,
Jordan Sabol lined a single into right field and took a wide turn around first base, leading to a cutoff throw to second base that sailed into left field, allowing Legge to scamper home with the go-ahead run. In the home half of the inning, Evans retired the first two batters before running into trouble, allowing a single and a double. He then coolly escaped the jam by inducing a groundout to end the game and seal the win.
The Bearcats wasted little time in the top of the first inning to take the game's first lead.
Sabol drew a walk to lead off the top of the first, moved to third on a single by
Zach Barberich and crossed the plate on a groundball off the bat of Evans to make it 1-0.
In a lengthy bottom of the second, Thiel used five singles and a passed ball to score three two-out runs and jump in front 3-1, but the Bearcats answered right back, with Evans' two-run, two-out single plating
Ben Menarchek, who reached on a fielder's choice, and Sabol, who reached on an error, to tie the score at 3-all.
The Tomcats jumped back out in front in the bottom of the fifth, after Jamin Wentling doubled home Anthony Sebastian, who drew a leadoff walk. After a sensational diving catch in center field by Sabol kept Wentling at second, another Thiel single would put runners at first and third. Evans would then take the mound and end the threat with a strikeout to keep the SVC deficit at one.
The back-and-forth theme continued, as the Bearcats answered right back to tie the game in the top of the sixth. With two outs,
Tom Bash worked a long at bat to draw a walk and would then move to third on a line drive single down the right field line by
Julian Santana. Santana would promptly steal second base and the throw from the catcher sailed into center field, allowing Bash to trot home with the tying run, setting up SVC's seventh inning rally.
Jimmy Malone started for SVC on the mound and took the no-decision, going 4.1 innings and allowing four runs (three earned) with three strikeouts. Thiel's starter, Alec Keaton, was also saddled with the no-decision, working six innings and allowing four runs on five hits, before giving way to Sante Carducci for the seventh, who surrendered the game-winning unearned run.
GAME TWO – Saint Vincent 15, Thiel 6
The day's second game was devoid of the drama of the opener, as Saint Vincent scored 13 runs over the first three innings to cruise to the victory.
Evans and
TJ Dailey led the offensive onslaught, each tallying four hits in the win. Evans totaled three RBIs and scored three runs, while Dailey drove in four and finished just a double shy of the cycle. Sabol was a third Bearcat to post a multi-hit game, going 2-for-5 with three runs scored. All nine Saint Vincent started reached base safely at least once, while eight different Bearcats both recorded at least one hit and scored at least one run.
The offensive barrage was more than enough for Bash, who started on the mound and allowed just one run on five hits with five strikeouts over six innings of work to improve to 3-0 on the year. Barberich threw the final three frames to earn his second save of the season.
As was the case in game one, the Bearcats wasted little time in taking the lead, scoring three times in the top of the first. Sabol tripled to lead off the game and scored on a Santana ground out, Evans doubled and scored on a Malone single and Dailey, who was hit by a pitch, stole home to make it 3-0.
The Bearcats would then send 12 men to the plate in a seven-run top of the second inning, with the big blast a three-run home run by Dailey, his second blast of the year. Also in the decisive second frame, Santana drew a bases loaded walk for his second RBi in as many innings, Evans laced a two-run single and
Tim Beimel a run-scoring base hit.
Saint Vincent continued to add on in the top of the third, scoring three two-out runs to up the lead to 13-0, with Malone drawing a bases loaded walk and
Justin Wright lacing a two-run single.
The Bearcats made it 14-1 in the top of the seventh, with a triple from Dailey plating Evans, who racked a one-out double, before they added their 15th and final run of the game in the top of the ninth when an Evans double plated Sabol, who led off the inning with a single.
Travis Harvey started and took the loss for the Tomcats, allowing eight runs (five earned) over an inning-and-a-third. He was one of three Thiel pitchers on the day.
The Bearcats and Tomcats will now wrap up their four-game season series with a 1 p.m. doubleheader at Bearcat Ballfield on Sunday, April 11.
