GREENVILLE, Pa. (Apr. 1)- The Saint Vincent baseball team dropped a double header on the road against Presidents Athletic Conference opponent Thiel College on Tuesday afternoon.
The Bearcats (10-13, 4-4 PAC) lost the first game 14-4 in 7 innings with Thiel (8-14, 4-2 PAC) tailing 15 hits on the way to an easy win. Game 2 was much of the same as Thiel poured it on big in the middle innings on their way to another commanding win by the score of 18-2.
Game 1- Thiel 14, Saint Vincent 4 (Final/7 Innings)
Bearcats starter Sean McAleer, went just two innings allowing four hits, two walks, and three earned runs. Garrett Knapp went just 1.2 innings giving up five hits, two walks, and five earned runs as the Bearcats found themselves in a big hole after a competitive start. That competitive start was thanks to some good hitting in the middle innings. Derek Hald, Jacob Auld, and Nolan Hurd all adding an RBI with Alex Hess also creating some chaos with a ball in play for another run.
Thiel started hot out of the gates thanks to a RBI-double in the first inning and some quality small ball in the second inning that resulted in a RBI single and a sacrifice fly to put the score at 3-0 heading into the 3rd inning.
The Bearcats would not go down without a fight however. They got started on their comeback in the 3rd inning with a RBI single from Auld to cut the margin to just two runs. In the fourth things got a bit more wild. After getting a couple runners on Hess attempted to punt them over, but a throwing error from the Thiel pitcher allowed Ben Hudson to score and moved the other runners to scoring position. Petty then grounded into a double play but it was enough to score Hurd, tying the game at 3-3. The Bearcats were not done there however, as they had some clutch two out hitting that eventually ended in a Hald RBI single to give the Bearcats a 4-3 lead heading into the bottom of the 4th inning.
Unfortunately that lead was short lived. Thiel swiftly started racking up baserunners. A flurry of singles and walks added up before you knew it Thiel had scored four runs to push the lead to 8-4.
After two scoreless innings on both sides Thiel officially blew the doors off of this one with a five run seventh inning thanks mostly to Saint Vincent mistakes. On top of a RBI single and a fielders choice, Thiel scored their runs this inning through a bases-loaded walk, a bases-loaded HBP, and a throwing error.
In total the Bearcats got four runs on seven hits, while Thiel racked up 14 runs on 15 hits to easily take this one.
Game 2- Thiel 18, Saint Vincent 2 (Final/7 Innings)
The second game was much of the same. Starting pitching once again struggled for the Bearcats with Andrew Stano giving up 7 hits and 5 earned runs, this time however lasting 4 innings.
There was not much offense to talk about for Saint Vincent in this one with all their runs coming via errors. Dylan Schmude had a solid day at the plate logging two hits in three at bats.
The Bearcats got off to a hot start after a throwing error allowed Nathan Whiteman to get to third and eventually score on a double play to give the Bearcats a quick 1-0 lead in the top of the first.
Thiel would respond quickly, scoring off a balk in the first inning and then adding two more runs in the third thanks to a RBI single and a sacrifice fly. After three innings Thiel held a slight 3-1 lead.
The Bearcats would hit back fast with a single from Joseph Pugh that, along with a throwing error in right field, scored Hald to cut the lead to 3-2 heading into the fifth inning.
Unfortunately, this is where the wheels would fall off for the Bearcats. Thiel put up 5 runs in the bottom of the 5th inning thanks to a couple RBI doubles, a sacrifice fly, and, somehow, another balk. It just seemed like the Bearcats could not as Thiel almost batted around in the inning. This monster inning put them up 8-2.
And they were far from down as they poured on a 10 more runs in the 6th. The Bearcats again could not buy an out as it was just hard hit ball after hard hit ball for Thiel. In the end they had three RBI singles and two RBI doubles in the inning to really put the game away.
The Bearcats got just two runs on six hits, in comparison to 18 runs on 19 hits that Thiel was able to produce in this one.
The Bearctas will look to rebound in another PAC matchup when they take on Chatham University on April 5 for another road doubleheader. The first game has a scheduled first pitch at 1:00 p.m. with game two scheduled to start at 3:30 p.m.
