BEAVER FALLS, Pa. (April 25) – The Saint Vincent baseball team returned to winning ways with a 9-5 victory at Geneva, sealing the sweep of the three-game season series between the two Presidents' Athletic Conference foes.
The win moves the Bearcats to 21-9 overall and 17-3 in PAC play, while the Golden Tornadoes drop to 9-24 and 5-15 in the conference.
The Bearcat offense was held to just four hits on the afternoon but took advantage of eight walks and six Geneva errors to score seven unearned runs.
Geneva struck first with two runs on three hits in the bottom of the first, but the Bearcats answered right back in the top of the second. Zach Barberich drew a one-out walk and stole second, before scoring on a dropped fly ball to cut the Geneva lead in half, 2-1.
The Golden Tornadoes added a run in the bottom of the third on a double and a pair of wild pitches, but SVC avoided further damage when reliever Casey Jones came out of the bullpen to strand the bases loaded with a strikeout and keep the deficit at two runs.
The teams traded zeroes over the next three innings before the Bearcats took the lead for good in the top of the sixth. Julian Santana led off the inning with a walk, before L.J. Evans reached on an error and Jordan Sabol drew a free pass to load the bases. T.J. Dailey reached on an error, plating Santana, before Kyle Belmont and Matthew Lockwich drew back-to-back bases-loaded walks to push the Bearcats in front, 4-3. Austin Tirpak reached on Geneva's second error of the inning, which plated both Belmont and Daley, before a squeeze bunt by Justin Wright brought home Lockwich and upped the lead to 7-3.
The Golden Tornadoes used a triple, double and wild pitch to plate a pair of runs in the bottom of the eighth, but the Bearcats answered right back in the next half inning. Sabol was hit by a pitch to lead off the ninth and after stealing both second and third, he scored on an RBI single from Belmont to make it 8-5. Belmont then took second on a wild pitch, before Lockwich singled to center to plate Belmont with SVC's ninth run.
In the bottom of the ninth, Jones pitched around a one-out single by closing the game with a groundout and strikeout to seal the victory.
Jones picked up the win in relief to improve to 5-2 on the season. He threw 6.2 innings and allowed two runs on seven hits with four strikeouts.
Offensively, Tirpak finished 2-for-5 with an RBI, with Belmont and Lockwich providing the other two SVC base hits. Sabol and Belmont scored two runs apiece, while Santana, Belmont and Lockwich each drew two walks.
The Bearcats will be back in action on Wednesday, April 27, hosting Bethany College in a 3 p.m. single game at Bearcat Ballfield.
