GROVE CITY, Pa. -- The Grove City College baseball team clinched the final available berth in the Presidents' Athletic Conference Championship Tournament by outlasting visiting Waynesburg (18-21, 12-12 PAC), 14-12, Monday afternoon at R. Jack Behringer Field.

Grove City improved to 14-10 in conference play with Monday's win. The Wolverines will be the No. 3 seed in the four-team, double-elimination tournament and will play second-seeded Thomas More (15-7 PAC) in Thursday's semifinals at 3 p.m. in Washington, Pa. Top-seeded Washington & Jefferson (21-3 PAC) will host No. 4 Thiel (13-11) in the other semifinal. 

Senior catcher Andy Fritz (Saxonburg, Pa./Knoch) helped pace Grove City's 14-hit attack by going 3 for 5 with a home run, double and five runs batted in. Junior center fielder Tyler Graham (Vandergrift, Pa./Kiski Area) went 3 for 5 with a double and scored four times.

Meanwhile, senior first baseman Matt Waugaman (Wexford, Pa./North Allegheny) doubled, singled, walked three times and scored three runs. Sophomore third baseman Micah Burke (Gilbert, Ariz./E.V.A.C.) added two hits in the victory.

Grove City (17-17 overall) bolted to a 5-0 lead in the first inning as a two-run double by freshman DH Matt Dayton (Allison Park, Pa./Hampton) highlighted the inning. Burke and senior shortstop David Laylock (Pittsburgh, Pa./Pine-Richland) also had run-scoring singles in the inning.

Fritz drove in Waugaman with a sacrifice fly in the third inning, pushing the lead to 6-1. Grove City then broke open the game with six runs in the fourth inning. Graham doubled in sophomore second baseman Bobby Dulay (Youngstown, Ohio/Ursuline) to open the scoring in the innings.

Waugaman and sophomore left fielder Travis Auth (Medina, Ohio/Medina) followed with run-scoring singles. Fritz then capped the outburst with a three-run homer to left field. 

Waynesburg whittled the lead to 12-7 with its own six-run outburst in the top of the fifth. Graham scored Grove City's 13th run in the bottom of the fifth when sophomore left fielder Shane Hammel (Fort Collins, Colo./Fossil Ridge) reached on a bases-loaded hit batsman. 

Waynesburg scored once in the sixth, then closed to within 13-12 with four more runs in the seventh. However, the Wolverines added an insurance run in the bottom of the seventh. Graham singled and stole second. In the process of intentionally walking Waugaman, who went 9 for 10 in the three-game series with Waynesburg, pitcher Mason Miller threw two wild pitches that allowed Graham to score. 

Sophomore pitcher John Bini (Staten Island, N.Y./Xaverian) then blanked Waynesburg over the final two innings to earn his first save of the season. Bini, who made his first relief appearance of the season, allowed one run in 2 1/3 innings. 

Freshman pitcher Austin Wacker (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cumberland Valley) started and struck out six in 4 1/3 innings. He allowed six earned runs. Seniors Ben Finlan (State College, Pa./State College) and Cedric Hils (West Homestead, Pa./Central Catholic) both pitched in relief in the fifth inning, as did sophomore Phil Bell (Poland, Ohio/Heartland Christian).

Bell earned the win after pitching two innings out of the bullpen. He struck out two and walked three. Bell is now 3-1.

Grove City is making its second straight conference tournament appearance. The Wolverines went 1-2 against Thomas More this season with the road team winning each of the three games.