Upset by Grove City, W&J needs 2 wins over Wolverines
If the Washington & Jefferson College baseball team is to win its conference championship, then the Presidents will have to do it the difficult way.
At the Presidents’ Athletic Conference tournament Friday, W&J was knocked into the loser’s bracket with an afternoon loss to Grove City but managed to stay alive with a victory over Thomas More in an elimination game.
Grove City scored three times in the bottom of the sixth inning and went on to upset the top-seeded Presidents 6-4 in the opening game of the day at Ross Memorial Park. Thomas More then rallied late to eliminate Thiel, 6-5.
That set up the 18th-ranked Presidents and Thomas More – the top two seeds in the tournament – in another elimination game. W&J scored eight runs over the final three innings to break open a close game and oust the Saints, 10-1.
W&J (32-10) and Grove City (19-17) will meet in the championship round today beginning at 1 p.m. The Presidents must beat the Wolverines twice to win the tournament. Grove City needs only one victory.
Starter Bryce Schnatterly and relievers Will Bowser and Tim Mulvey combined on a five-hitter to keep W&J’s title hopes alive.
Adam LaRue was 3-for-6 with two runs and RBI for W&J. Six different Presidents had an RBI.
In the opening game, Andy Fritz hit a three-run homer in the sixth inning to give Grove City a 5-4 lead over W&J. The third-seeded Wolverines tacked on another run in the seventh, and winning pitcher Micah Burke and reliever Austin Wacker combined to scatter 10 hits.
W&J’s Derek Helbing hit a two-run homer that gave the Presidents a 4-2 lead in the fifth inning.
Matt Waugaman hit a home run in the first inning for Grove City, which turned three double plays.
The winner of the tournament receives an automatic berth to the NCAA Division III tournament that begins next week.