SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. -- The Grove City College baseball team improved to 9-4 in the Presidents' Athletic Conference by winning both ends of a doubleheader Saturday against Thiel. Grove City earned a 12-2 win in the opener, then held on for a 13-11 win Saturday night at Slippery Rock University's Jack Critchfield Park. 

Senior pitcher Tate Ostrowski (Essex, Mass./Covenant Christian) fired a complete game in Game One to earn his fifth win of the season. Ostrowski (5-1) struck out seven and allowed two runs in seven innings.

Offensively, seven of Grove City's 13 hits went for extra bases in the opener. Senior first baseman Bubba Hamilton (Garner, N.C./Waynesboro, Pa.) belted three doubles to help pace the Wolverines while freshman center fielder Nico Rodriguez (Stafford, Va./Mountain View) tripled and doubled for Grove City (18-8).

Sophomore DH Markus Williams (Sewickley, Pa./Eden Christian) doubled, singled and scored three times. Senior left fielder Jesse Clary (Cranberry Township, Pa./Eden Christian) also doubled and singled while junior right fielder Anthony Tambellini (Pittsburgh, Pa./Montour) went 2 for 4.  

Hamilton doubled home Clary in the bottom of the third to break a 1-1 tie. Hamilton then scored on a Tambellini single. A six-run fourth inning allowed Grove City to break open the game. Williams and junior catcher C.J. Saylor (Lancaster, Pa./Hempfield) both scored on an error, extending the lead to 5-1. Rodriguez tripled in freshman third baseman Mally Kilbane (Olmsted Falls, Ohio/Olmsted Falls) and Clary followed with a run-scoring single.

Hamilton doubled Clary to third, who then scored on an error. Hamilton scored the sixth run of the inning on a sacrifice fly by freshman second baseman Luke Vittone (Seven Fields, Pa./Eden Christian). 

The Wolverines added three more runs in the fifth as Williams scored on a throwing error and Rodriguez's two-run double scored Kilbane and Saylor.

Thiel out-hit Grove City, 18-10, in Game Two but Grove City took advantage of 12 Thiel walks.

Saylor's run-scoring force play and Rodriguez's run-scoring single gave Grove City a 2-0 lead in the first inning. Thiel scored twice in the top of the second and added three runs in the third to take a 5-2 lead. Grove City reclaimed the lead for good in the bottom of the third as Hamilton's three-run homer to right capped a four-run outburst.

Grove City pushed the lead to 8-5 in the fifth as sophomore shortstop Lucca Baccari (Irwin, Pa./Penn-Trafford) roped a two-run single that scored freshman catcher Sam DiStefano (Fairview, Pa./Fairview) and Vittone. In the sixth, Rodriguez doubled in Saylor, giving Grove City a 9-5 lead. Vittone and DiStefano walked with the bases loaded, extending the lead to 11-5.

Thiel whittled Grove City's lead to 11-9 but Kilbane doubled in Saylor and Hamilton drove home Kilbane with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the seventh.

Rodriguez finished 3 for 5 while Kilbane and Baccari each finished with two hits. Saylor scored four times while Vittone singled and walked four times in his five plate appearances. 

Sophomore pitcher Nick Guidas (Gibsonia, Pa./Pine-Richland) earned the win after striking out six men in 5 2/3 innings. He allowed five earned runs. Kilbane pitched 1 1/3 innings of relief. Junior Elijah White (Zelienople, Pa./Portersville Christian) sewed up his first collegiate save by pitching two scoreless innings. White struck out two and yielded one hit.

Grove City now has a 3 1/2-game lead on Bethany (6-8 PAC) for fourth place in the conference. The top four teams qualify for the conference tournament. Grove City will host Bethany in a single game Friday before visiting Bethany next Saturday for a doubleheader. Prior to that, Grove City visits conference leader Washington & Jefferson (14-0 PAC) for a conference doubleheader Tuesday at 2 p.m. in Washington, Pa.