GROVE CITY, Pa. – Grove City denied the Bethany College baseball team a berth in the PAC Tournament by sweeping the Bison in a twinbill Monday by scores of 8-5 and 11-9, which closed BC’s regular season with an overall record of 20-17 and a PAC mark of 6-12.
Bethany had early leads in both contest, including a 5-2 advantage after three and a half innings in the opener. They scored twice in the first inning on an RBI ground out by sophomore 1B Nate Tieman (Hilliard, Ohio/Hilliard Darby) and a GCC error. The home team answered back with two runs in the third before BC put three runs up in the fourth. Another error plated one run and the other two scored on a sac fly by junior CF Tyler Dillinger (McKeesport, Pa.) and a single by senior LF Mark Cummins (Manahawkin, N.J./Southern Regional).
The lead didn’t last long because Grove City scored four times in the bottom of the fourth to take a 6-5 advantage and they would push two insurance runs across in the sixth to make it 8-5. Bethany’s offense went quiet over the last three innings, as they had a base runner in the fifth and sixth, but double plays ended the threats and a one-out single in the seventh was followed by a fly out and a strike out to finish out the contest.
In game two, the Bison benefitted from four GCC errors in the first inning to score six times, with the big blow being a two-run single by junior RF Mike Pegg (Uniontown, Pa./Laurel Highlands). After the Wolverines scored twice in the first, sloppy Bethany defense helped the home team even the score, as they committed three errors in the second to open the door for four Grove City runs to make it a 6-6 game.
A Grove City miscue led to another BC tally in the third on an RBI ground out by junior catcher Josh Lawrence (Mather, Pa./Jefferson-Morgan) and the Green and White lead grew to 8-6 in the fourth on an RBI single from freshman 3B Brad Kubis (Aliquippa, Pa./Hopewell). The Wolverines continued to come back, tying the score with a pair of scores in the fourth and two more in the fifth to take a 10-8 lead. The teams exchanged runs in the sixth, leaving the Bison down 11-9 entering the final frame and they were retired in order to close out their hopes for a spot in the conference tournament.
After being held to five hits in the first game, Bethany managed nine hits in the nightcap. Dillinger posted a single and double and scored twice, while Kubis and Pegg collected two RBIs each.
Discussion about this post