GROVE CITY, Pa. (April 25) – The Saint Vincent College baseball team split a Presidents' Athletic Conference doubleheader at Grove City College, winning the opener by a 5-2 score before falling in the nightcap, 11-1.
GAME ONE: Saint Vincent 5, Grove City 2
The Bearcat bats scored four runs over the seventh and eighth innings to come back from an early deficit and earn the game one win.
The Bearcat bats racked 10 hits in support of two hurlers who turned in exceptional efforts on the mound.
Tyler Dancu started got the win, working 6.0 innings and allowing just two runs on four hits with five strikeouts.
Alex Polito came on from the bullpen in the seventh and threw three scoreless frames, allowing just two hits, to earn the three-inning save.
Saint Vincent took an early 1-0 lead in the top of the third when
Derek Hald led off with a single, took second on a wild pitch, and scored on
Dylan Schmude's single to right-center.
The Wolverines answered right back in the bottom half of the inning, scoring two runs on two walks, a sacrifice fly and a single to jump in front 2-1.
The teams traded zeroes over the next four innings before the Bearcats gained the lead in the top of the seventh.
Alex Hess drew a leadoff walk and took second on a wild pitch, before Schmude's base-hit bunt put runners at the corners.
Jimmy Davis followed with an RBI groundout to plate Hess, and then
Mario Disso's sacrifice fly brought home Schmude to put SVC on top, 3-2.
Polito set the Wolverines down in order in the bottom of the seventh, and the Bearcats then added some insurance in the eighth.
Billy Perroz led off with a single, before
Vincent Amatucci laced an RBI double to the left field corner to put runners at second and third. After a walk to Hald loaded the bases, Schmude came through with a single to center to clear the bases and extend the lead to 5-2.
Polito escaped trouble in the bottom of the eighth, pitching around a walk and a single in the scoreless frame, before he closed out the game with a scoreless ninth to earn his first save and preserve the win for the green and gold.
Schmude led the SVC offense in the victory, going 3-for-4 with three RBIs and a run scored. Amatucci and Hald each went 2-for-3 and drew walks, while Davis, Perroz and
Austin Tirpak also found the hit column.
David Leslie started on the mound for the Wolverines and took the no-decision, allowing one run on five hits with 10 strikeouts in six innings. Michael Earman got the loss in relief, allowing four runs on four hits in one inning of work.
GAME TWO: Grove City 11, Saint Vincent 1
In the nightcap, Grove City jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second inning and continued to add on, as the Wolverines racked 17 hits in the 11-1 win.
The Wolverines added on with two more runs in the third, before the Bearcats found the scoreboard in the top of the fourth.
Kyle Belmont reached on an error to lead off, before taking second on a one-out walk to Perroz. Hald then followed with a single to left to bring home Belmont and cut the deficit to 4-1.
SVC looked to trim the deficit even more in the top of the fifth, managing three hits, but a pick-off, followed by an inning-ending double play, quashed the threat.
Grove City would then break the game open with four runs on five hits in the bottom of the fifth, before closing out the scoring with a three-run bottom of the seventh.
Schmude again paced the SVC offense by going 3-for-3, while Hess had two hits in three trips to the plate. Perroz, Hald and
Jimmy Davis added the other three hits for the Bearcats.
Michael Klingensmith started for the Bearcats on the mound and took the loss, allowing four runs on nine hits in four innings of work. He was the first of four hurlers used by SVC for the game.
The Bearcats will return to action on Saturday, April 27, welcoming PAC foe Allegheny College for a 1 p.m. doubleheader. In their second season in the PAC, it marks the Gators' first trip to Latrobe since 2004.
