AUBURNDALE, Fla. -- The Grove City College baseball team opened the 2019 season Friday and Saturday by splitting doubleheaders with Milwaukee School of Engineering and Clark (Mass.) in central Florida. Friday, Grove City pulled out an 11-6 victory in nine innings over M.S.O.E. before dropping a 3-1 decision in the nightcap. Saturday, Grove City took the second game from Clark, 9-6, after sustaining a 10-1 setback in Saturday's opener. 

In Friday's first game, Grove City scored five times in the top of the ninth to take the lead. Sophomore DH Bubba Hamilton (Waynesboro, Pa./Waynesboro) drove in the go-ahead run when his sacrifice fly brought home freshman pinch runner Matt Knauer (Allison Park, Pa./Hampton). After a bases-loaded walk and hit batsman forced in two more runs, senior third baseman Micah Burke (Gilbert, Ariz./E.V.A.C.) broke open the game with a two-run single later in the inning. 

Junior shortstop Bobby Abbott (Westfield, N.Y./Westfield) paced Grove City by going 3 for 4 with two runs scored while senior second baseman Bobby Dulay (Youngstown, Ohio/Ursuline) went 2 for 3 and knocked in three runs. Senior left fielder Travis Auth (Medina, Ohio/Medina) doubled and drove in two runs while sophomore catcher Tanner Orner (Carlisle, Pa./Cumberland Valley) and freshman right fielder Joey Kolb (Riverside, Calif./Arlington) both scored twice.

Freshman reliever Isaac Bowden (Fairfax, Va./Lake Braddock) earned the victory by throwing three scoreless innings. Senior starter John Bini (Staten Island, N.Y./Xavieran) allowed three earned runs in six innings. Freshman Robby Randolph (Cranberry Township, Pa./North Catholic) also pitched in relief. 

Abbott and Orner both went 2 for 4 in Game Two against M.S.O.E. Grove City trailed 3-0 in the seventh but Orner opened the scoring when he came home on a single by senior center fielder Shane Hammel (Fort Collins, Colo./Fossil Ridge). The Wolverines loaded the bases with one out but a double play ended the threat and the game. 

Sophomore pitcher D.J. Newby (McKeesport, Pa./McKeesport) struck out seven in five innings. He allowed two runs and five hits. Sophomore Jacob Brothers (Aurora, Ill./Aurora Christian) fanned three in two innings of relief. He allowed one run and one hit.

In Saturday's second game against Clark, Dulay singled in Auth and later doubled in Abbott to give Grove City an early 2-0 lead. Clark rallied to take a 5-4 lead but Grove City answered with a four-run sixth inning. 

Abbott, Dulay, Hammel and junior first baseman Matt Dayton (Allison Park, Pa./Hampton) all cracked run-scoring singles in the inning as Grove City took the lead for good. In the seventh, sophomore pitcher Joel Engstrom (Belle Vernon, Pa./Belle Vernon) led off with a single and later scored on a wild pitch. Engstrom had to bat when DH Orner went into play catcher.

Engstrom earned the relief win by allowing one run and two hits over four innings. Sophomore pitcher Lake Pry (West Sunbury, Pa./Moniteau) started and yielded two earned runs in three innings. 

Dulay led Grove City's 14-hit attack by going 3 for 4 while senior catcher Derek Boyle (Stafford, Va./Brooke Point) went 2 for 3 before being lifted for a pinch runner. Abbott had two singles and scored twice while Auth also came home twice. 

Orner doubled in Abbott in the fourth inning of the opener against Clark. Burke started and allowed eight earned runs in four innings. Freshman Noah Sedmak (Falls Church, Va./Falls Church) pitched three scoreless innings of relief.

Grove City will face Albion at 10 a.m. Monday in Winter Haven, Fla.