WASHINGTON, Pa. -- The Grove City College baseball team's charge toward the Presidents' Athletic Conference title ended Friday as the Wolverines dropped a pair of games in the PAC Championship Tournament at Washington & Jefferson College's Ross Memorial Park.

Grove City (27-15) opened the day with a 7-4 setback to top-seeded W&J in the winner's bracket final. Friday night, the Wolverines then dropped an elimination game to Bethany, 5-2.

Grove City jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning against W&J as senior left fielder Travis Auth (Medina, Ohio/Medina) and senior third baseman Micah Burke (Gilbert, Ariz./E.V.A.C.) both scored on fielder's choices. An error scored senior center fielder Shane Hammel (Fort Collins, Colo./Fossil Ridge). 

W&J tied the game with a three-run third inning and added two runs in both the fourth and sixth innings. Grove City cut the lead to 7-4 in the eighth when Hammel's sacrifice fly drove in Auth. The Wolverines had two men on with one out after the sacrifice fly but did not score.

Auth went 2 for 4 with a double while junior first baseman Matt Dayton (Allison Park, Pa./Hampton) also went 2 for 4.

Sophomore pitcher D.J. Newby (McKeesport, Pa./McKeesport) allowed five earned runs in 3 2/3 innings. He struck out four. Junior Austin Wacker (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cumberland Valley) allowed two runs in 4 1/3 innings of relief. Wacker fanned three. 

Grove City trailed Bethany 3-0 entering the bottom of the seventh. Hammel and senior DH Bobby Dulay (Youngstown, Ohio/Ursuline) opened with consecutive singles. Sophomore catcher Tanner Orner (Carlisle, Pa./Cumberland Valley) then singled in Hammel, cutting the lead to 3-1. The Wolverines left two runners on base, however. 

In the eighth, Auth reached on an error and scored on a Dayton double. Bethany answered with two insurance runs in the top of the ninth. 

Orner went 3 for 4 with a double while Dayton also walked three times. 

Sophomore pitcher Lake Pry (West Sunbury, Pa./Moniteau) pitched 5 2/3 innings and allowed three earned runs. Pry dropped to 7-2. Freshman Isaac Bowden (Fairfax, Va./Lake Braddock) pitched 2 1/3 innings of relief, yielding two runs. Senior Phil Bell (Poland, Ohio/Heartland Christian) pitched a scoreless inning. 

Grove City will now await a possible invitation to next week's Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Division III Championship Tournament.