May 14, 2021 4 min read

It was a good old-fashioned pitching gem, like the one you might see with Gerrit Cole vs. Clayton Kershaw, Randy Johnson vs. Greg Maddox or Bob Gibson vs. Tom Seaver.

No 15-14 game here.

Tate Ostrowski, who came to Grove City as an infielder, pitched eight strong innings, striking out nine, throwing 80 of his 111 pitches for strikes and allowing one unearned run.

Henry Litman was better.

The senior from Washington & Jefferson allowed two hits, struck out five and fielded his position flawlessly as the Presidents took a 1-0 victory in the winners’ bracket final of the Presidents’ Athletic Conference Tournament Friday at Ross Memorial Park.

The victory moves the top-seeded and second-ranked Presidents to today’s championship series. The game times are 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. The latter game time will only be used if W&J loses the first game.

The Presidents are making their 12th straight conference tournament appearance. W&J won its 12th PAC title in 2019.

The winner of this year’s tournament will earn the league’s automatic qualifying bid to the NCAA Division III Championships, with regional play scheduled for May 27-31. Team selections for the Division III Championships will be made May 23.

And if W&J gets pitching and defense like yesterday, the Presidents will have a lot to say abut who wins the national title.

“When you throw the ball over the plate, and when you catch the ball behind (the pitcher), good things happen,” said Washington & Jefferson head coach Jeff Mountain. “There wasn’t any room for error in 15 of the 18 innings we played. We’ve been in a dogfight this entire tournament.”

W&J got Litman all the runs he needed in the first inning. Leadoff hitter Taylor Horvat hit a hot ground ball back to the mound and Ostrowski put his glove down to stop the ball, which scooted under his glove, a foot or two off the mound.

Ostrowski picked the ball up and made a hurried throw to first base. The ball got past Grove City first baseman Bubba Hamilton and Horvat pulled into second base on a two-base error.

Horvat moved to third on a groundout to first by Adam Morris and came home on a single to center by Adam Moore.

That was all Litman (9-0) would need. He would take a no-hitter into the seventh, when Hamilton broke it up with a solid, two-out single to right field.

“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t thinking about the no-hitter,” said Litman. “I was focused on winning the game more than anything. I knew the guy on the other side, Tate Ostrowski, is a good pitcher. I knew it was going to be a pitcher’s duel and I’m just glad we won.”

“Being in tight games is good for us,” said Mountain. “We played errorless baseball and it had to be if we were going to win the game.”

Litman induced 15 groundouts before Michael Zito came on for a 1-2-3 ninth inning for his seventh save. The game was lightning quick: 1:47.

“That’s almost what I exactly expected,” said Grove City head coach Matt Royer. “The first inning, that was unfortunate. But the game was very well played by both teams.”

Royer got into a shouting match with a W&J fan after the game but nothing came of it. Some fans were upset Royer asked umpires to inspect Litman’s cap for an illegal substance.

“It’s not a big deal,” said Royer. “I just asked them to wet his fingers before. There is stuff on the internet that doesn’t do anything. The umpire didn’t do what I asked him. He was more worried about me being in the batter’s box.”