NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (March 15)- The Saint Vincent baseball team concluded their trip to Virginia with a doubleheader sweep against the Newport News Apprentice School on Saturday afternoon, concluding the trip on a three-game winning streak.

The Bearcats (6-7) won the opener of the doubleheader 2-0 after a gem on the mound from Tyler Dancu. SVC followed that up with a 10-9 late game surge win against the Builders (11-4) in the second game of the doubleheader.

Game 1- Saint Vincent 2, Apprentice School 0

Saint Vincent scored one run in the fourth and one in the sixth and that was all they needed in the third game of the four-game series.

The Bearcats were led on the mound by the graduate pitcher, Dancu, who tossed a complete-game shutout. Dancu allowed seven hits, striking out three batters and walking one as well. Offensively, Saint Vincent tallied just five hits, with all five coming from different players. L.J. Evans and Dylan Schmude both recorded one hit and one RBI each, while Alex Hess, Derek Hald, and Kyle Belmont all recorded one hit as well. Belmont and Hald scored the two Saint Vincent runs in the win.

After a scoreless first three innings, the Bearcats took the lead in the fourth inning. Evans drove in Hald with an RBI-single to right field to put Saint Vincent up 1-0, but that's all the Bearcats would get in the inning. SVC went up 2-0 after an RBI-double from Schmude that scored Belmont in the sixth.

From that point on, it was the Tyler Dancu show. Dancu silenced the Builders bats the rest of the way to secure the complete-game shutout victory.

Saint Vincent scored their two runs on just five hits, while playing clean defense, not committing a single error. The Apprentice School totaled seven hits, committing two errors.

Game 2- Saint Vincent 10, Apprentice School 9 

It was a thriller and come from behind victory in the final game of the four-game series. Saint Vincent trailed 9-5 after six innings of play, before they scored three in the sixth, one in the seventh, and what turned out to be the game-winning run in the ninth inning on an RBI-single rom Hess.

Five Bearcats had at least two hits in the win. Hess went 2-5 with one the one RBI (game-winning RBI) and one run scored. Dalton Nicklow, Nolan Hurd, Nathan Whiteman, and T.J. Bucy all had two hits as well. Whiteman also scored two runs, while Nicklow and Hurd both scored once.Lane Golkosky, along with Schmude and Belmont all recorded one hit each for Saint Vincent as well.

Saint Vincent used nine pitchers over the course of the nine inning game. Alex Polito picked up his second win in as many days, pitching 1.2 scoreless innings in relief, not allowing a hit, while striking out one and walking one. Garrett Navitsky, Andrew Stano, Cody May, and Jack Reichart all pitched scoreless outings in relief for SVC.

The Apprentice School jumped out to a 1-0 lead after one inning of play. Saint Vincent answered in the second inning as Golkosky ripped an RBI-single that scored Belmont to tie the game at 1-1. The Builders would later regain the lead in the bottom of the inning as SVC found themselves trailing 2-1 heading into the third.

It was a big third inning, all thanks to Bucy. Whiteman drove in all three Saint Vincent runs in the third with a three-RBI double to center, scoring Hurd, Schmude, and Whiteman to put the Bearcats up 4-2. The Apprentice School answered with two of their own in the bottom of the third to tie the game at 4-4.

The Builders added two more in the fourth to once again regain the lead at 6-4, but Saint Vincent added a run in the fifth on an RBI-sac fly from Belmont, scoring Brennen Freiwald, cutting the lead to 6-5. The Apprentice School struck for three more in the bottom of the fifth to open their lead to 9-5.

However, the Bearcats once again battled back. SVC scored three runs in the sixth inning to cut the lead to just one at 9-8. Nicklow reached on an error, scoring both Hess and Traynor Janosko, who came in the game to pinch hit. Nicklow later scored on a wild pitch and the Bearcats trailed by one going into the seventh. 

SVC tied the game in the seventh as an RBI-groundout by Mario Disso scored Julian Santana to tie the game at 9-9.

After a scoreless eighth inning from both teams, Hess hit the game-winner with an RBI-single, scoring Whiteman in the top of the ninth as Saint Vincent was on top 10-9. Just as he did the day before, Polito slammed the door shut in the bottom of the ninth for SVC to allow the Bearcats to win their third in a row and sweep the doubleheader.

Saint Vincent totaled 10 runs on 13 hits, committing four errors, while the Apprentice School scored their nine runs on 14 hits, committing one error of their own.

The Bearcats will take the next week off to prepare for their first Presidents Athletic Conference doublheader next Saturday, March 22 against Bethany. First pitch for game one is scheduled for 1 p.m. at Bearcat Ballfield.