GROVE CITY, Pa. -- The Grove City College baseball team moved closer to clinching a berth in the season-ending Presidents' Athletic Conference Championship Tournament by splitting a home doubleheader Saturday afternoon with league foe Chatham. Chatham nipped Grove City in the opener at Jack Behringer Field, 3-2, but Grove City rebounded for an 8-1 victory in Game Two.

Grove City (23-11, 14-7 PAC) needs to win one of its final six league games to secure a spot in the four-team conference tournament. 

Sophomore pitcher Nick Guidas (Gibsonia, Pa./Pine-Richland) struck out a season-high 11 men over six scoreless innings in Game Two to earn the win. He walked one and allowed six hits to secure his sixth win of the season.

Offensively, Grove City pounded out 16 hits in the nightcap. Freshman second baseman Luke Vittone (Seven Fields, Pa./Eden Christian) belted a two-run home run as part of a 3-for-5 outing while sophomore DH Markus Williams (Sewickley, Pa./Eden Christian) doubled twice and also singled in his four at-bats. 

Senior left fielder Jesse Clary (Cranberry Township, Pa./Eden Christian), freshman shortstop Shane Cato (New Castle, Pa./Shenango) and freshman third baseman Mally Kilbane (Olmsted Falls, Ohio/Olmsted Falls) all had two hits. 

Williams and senior first baseman Bubba Hamilton (Garner, N.C./Waynesboro, Pa.) each laced run-scoring singles in the first inning to give Grove City a 2-0 lead.

Senior right fielder Colton Lineman (Apex, N.C./Northwood) pushed the lead to 3-0 in the third inning when he singled in Williams. Freshman center fielder Nico Rodriguez (Stafford, Va./Mountain View) followed with a two-run single that scored Clary and Lineman.

Vittone's two-run blast in the fifth gave Grove City a 7-0 lead. Kilbane scored on Williams's sixth-inning groundout.

Senior pitcher Noah Sedmak (Falls Church, Va./Falls Church) pitched the seventh inning in relief. Senior Robby Randolph (Cranberry Township, Pa./North Catholic) closed out the win with two scoreless innings of relief. He struck out two.

Game One featured nine total hits, four by Grove City. Rodriguez led the offense by going 2 for 3. He scored Grove City's first run in the second inning during a rundown. Kilbane drove in Grove City's other run in the fifth inning when he reached on a bases-loaded hit batsman. Junior pinch runner Aaron Jenks (Fairport, N.Y./Fairport) came home on the play.

Freshman pitcher Evan Umland (Pasadena, Calif./La Canada) struck out seven men and allowed two earned runs in six innings. He took the setback. Sophomore Nate Hamel (Pittsburgh, Pa./Upper Saint Clair) pitched a perfect seventh inning in relief. 

Umland ranks second in the conference with 76 strikeouts this season and Guidas ranks third with 66. Senior Tate Ostrowski (Essex, Mass./Covenant Christian) leads the conference with 80 strikeouts.

Grove City will host Franciscan in a conference doubleheader Monday at 1 p.m.