GROVE CITY, Pa. -- The Grove City College baseball team opened the final week of the 2022 regular season Monday afternoon by sweeping a Presidents' Athletic Conference doubleheader from visiting Franciscan at Jack Behringer Field. Grove City (25-11, 16-7 PAC) earned a 13-4 win in the opener, then rallied for a 9-7 victory in Game Two. 

Grove City's Game One win clinched a spot in the season-ending four-team conference tournament, which will be held May 12-14 in Washington, Pa.

Senior first baseman Bubba Hamilton (Garner, N.C./Waynesboro, Pa.) and freshman third baseman Mally Kilbane (Olmsted Falls, Ohio/Olmsted Falls) each had three hits in Game One to help lead Grove City's 12-hit attack. Hamilton doubled and added two singles while Kilbane singled three times.

Freshman second baseman Luke Vittone (Seven Fields, Pa./Eden Christian) launched a three-run home run and added a double while freshman shortstop Shane Cato (New Castle, Pa./Shenango) also belted a three-run homer. Junior catcher C.J. Saylor (Lancaster, Pa./Hempfield) cracked a two-run homer and finished with three runs batted in.

Grove City jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning as Kilbane singled in Vittone, freshman center fielder Nico Rodriguez (Stafford, Va./Mountain View) scored on Saylor's sacrifice fly and Kilbane later came in on a single from sophomore DH Markus Williams (Sewickley, Pa./Eden Christian). Saylor's home run in the second inning pushed the lead to 5-0. 

Franciscan scored single runs in the third, fourth and fifth innings, cutting the lead to 5-3. However, Grove City countered with four runs in the bottom of the fifth. Cato's three-run homer highlighted the inning while Vittone scored on a Kilbane single later in the inning.

In the sixth, senior left fielder Jesse Clary (Cranberry Township, Pa./Eden Christian) scored on a balk moments before Vittone's three-run home run.

Sophomore pitcher Nate Hamel (Pittsburgh, Pa./Upper Saint Clair) earned the win with 3 1/3 innings of relief. He allowed one earned run. Junior Elijah White (Zelienople, Pa./Portersville Christian) started and yielded two earned runs in 3 2/3 innings.

Grove City trailed 6-3 in the sixth inning but freshman catcher Dom Brncic (Weirton, W.Va./Madonna) doubled and then scored on a Vittone single. In the seventh, Clary squeezed home Hamilton to bring the Wolverines to within 6-5. Sophomore shortstop Lucca Baccari (Irwin, Pa./Penn-Trafford) scored the tying run on Williams's pinch-hit single. 

Vittone put Grove City ahead by doubling in Williams. Rodriguez followed with a two-run single up the middle that drove home Vittone and senior pinch runner D.J. Newby (McKeesport, Pa./McKeesport). 

Kilbane hit a solo homer in the first inning to give Grove City a 1-0 lead. Hamilton singled in Saylor later in the inning while Clary's third-inning single scored Kilbane and gave Grove City a 3-0 lead.

Vittone finished 3 for 5 with two doubles. Baccari went 2 for 5 with a double while Saylor finished 2 for 4. 

Cato earned his first win by pitching three innings of relief. He struck out three and allowed one run. Kilbane started and pitched four innings. He permitted four earned runs. Freshman Isaiah Zuchowski (Barnevleld, N.Y./Poland) allowed a hit and an unearned run in two innings of relief. 

The Wolverines will host W&J at 4 p.m. Wednesday in a single conference game at Jack Behringer Field.