LAKELAND, Fla. -- The Grove City College baseball team concluded an undefeated eight-game Spring Break trip to Central Florida by earning a 7-3 victory Saturday over Saint Joseph (Maine) in non-conference play at Lake Bonny Field. Grove City (10-3 overall) broke a 3-3 tie by scoring four times in the top of the ninth inning.
Sophomore second baseman
Luke Vittone (Seven Fields, Pa./Eden Christian) gave Grove City the lead in the ninth when his single scored sophomore third baseman
Shane Cato (New Castle, Pa./Shenango). Vittone then scored on a double by freshman center fielder
Nick Sampson (Venetia, Pa./Peters Township).
Grove City's lead swelled to 6-3 as sophomore
Mally Kilbane (Olmsted Falls, Ohio/Olmsted Falls) drove in Sampson with a single to center field. Kilbane later came home when junior first baseman
Markus Williams (Sewickley, Pa./Eden Christian) singled to left.
Sampson gave the Wolverines a 2-0 lead in the third inning by singling in Vittone and sophomore left fielder
Nico Rodriguez (Stafford, Va./Mountain View).
The Monks took a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the third but Grove City tied the game in the fourth when sophomore DH
David Leslie (Butler, Pa./Butler) belted a solo home run.
Williams paced Grove City's 14-hit attack by going 3 for 5. Vittone doubled while going 2 for 5. Sophomore right fielder
Josh Minnich (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cumberland Valley) also went 2 for 5 and Sampson finished 2 for 4.
Kilbane pitched three scoreless innings of relief to earn the pitching win. He struck out three and walked one. Freshman
Kenny Lavrich (Franklin, Pa./Cranberry) started and pitched 2 2/3 innings. He struck out two and yielded three runs in his first collegiate start. Senior
Robby Randolph (Cranberry Township, Pa./North Catholic) threw 3 1/3 innings of scoreless relief. He yielded two hits.
Grove City's eight-game win streak is the longest for the Wolverines since a nine-game run April 18-30, 2021. Grove City is off to its best start since 2006, when the Wolverines won 11 of their first 14 games.
The Wolverines will host Hiram in non-conference play at 3 p.m. Tuesday in the 2023 home opener.