LATROBE, Pa. (April 2) – The Saint Vincent baseball team rode strong pitching and a timely offense to defeat Chatham 3-1 in a Presidents' Athletic Conference matchup at Bearcat Ballfield.

Justin Wright started and worked 8.1 strong innings on the mound, while the Bearcat offense made the most of their seven hits to earn its first PAC win of the season.

Wright surrendered just one run on eight hits with five strikeouts and just two walks. Jeremy Kruezweiser came on in the ninth to record the final two outs – both via strikeout – to earn his first career save.

After two scoreless frames, the Bearcats took the lead in the bottom of the third. With one out, Julian Santana walked, before Jordan Sabol singled through the left side. TJ Dailey followed with a single up the middle to plate Sabol with the game's first run.

The lead was short-lived, as the Cougars answered with an unearned run in the top of the fourth, the result of a pair of errant throws.

In the bottom of the fifth, SVC regained the lead for good. John Evans walked to lead off, before taking second on a wild pitch and third on a Sabol groundball. With two outs, Billy Perroz came through with an opposite-field single to right, scoring Evans and putting the Bearcats on top 2-1.

After Wright stranded Chatham runners in both the seventh and eighth inning, the Bearcats used small ball to add some insurance in their final at-bats in the bottom of the eighth. Dailey walked to lead off, moved to second on a perfectly executed sacrifice bunt from Perroz, took third on a wild pitch and then score on a Derek Hald single to left to make it 3-1.

Wright struck out the leadoff man in the top of the ninth, but after yielding a single, he gave way to Kreuzweiser. The sophomore surrendered a base hit to the first batter he faced, putting runners at first and second, but would bear down to record the final two outs of the game via strikeout to earn the save.

Seven different players accounted for the Bearcats' seven hits, while Sabol, Dailey and Zach Barberich each singled and walked to reach base twice.

For Chatham, Quinn Burke and Caleb Lehman each had two hits. Eric Paulin took the loss on the mound, coming on in relief and allowing two runs on three hits in four innings of work.

The Bearcats will be back in action on Sunday, April 3, traveling to Chatham to close out the series with a 1 p.m. doubleheader at West Field in Munhall.