SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. -- All nine offensive starters had at least one hit and eight of the nine men scored at least one run Thursday afternoon for the Grove City College baseball team in its non-conference game with Hiram. But Hiram (6-3) posted three straight multi-run innings late to earn a 15-11 win over the Wolverines (10-4) at Slippery Rock University's Jack Critchfield Park.
Junior shortstop
Lucca Baccari (Irwin, Pa./Penn Trafford) paced Grove City's 16-hit attack by going 4 for 5. Junior first baseman
Markus Williams (Sewickley, Pa./Eden Christian) tripled, doubled, singled and scored two runs while senior catcher
C.J. Saylor (Lancaster, Pa./Hempfield) tripled and singled.Â
Sophomore DH
Shane Cato (New Castle, Pa./Shenango) finished 2 for 5 while sophomore right fielder
Josh Minnich (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cumberland Valley) tripled. Sophomore third baseman
Mally Kilbane (Olmsted Falls, Ohio/Olmsted Falls) and freshman center fielder
Nick Sampson (Venetia, Pa./Peters Township) each doubled.Â
Grove City posted four runs in the bottom of the fifth to take a 7-2 lead. Kilbane doubled in Sampson, who sparked the rally with a leadoff double. Williams and Saylor then stroked back-to-back triples. Cato singled home Saylor to cap the inning.Â
Hiram surged ahead, 14-8, but Grove City halved the lead in the bottom of the eighth. Kilbane's bases-loaded groundout scored Baccari while Minnich's subsequent two-run triple brought home Sampson and sophomore second baseman
Luke Vittone (Seven Fields, Pa./Eden Christian).
Grove City loaded the bases with two outs in the ninth inning but could not complete its comeback.
Senior pitcher
Tate Ostrowski (Essex, Mass./Covenant Christian) pitched four innings and allowed two runs. He struck out five. Sophomores
David Leslie (Butler, Pa./Butler) and
Evan Umland (Pasadena, Calif./La Canada) both pitched two innings of relief while Kilbane pitched the ninth. Umland took the setback.
Now 8-1 over the last nine games, Grove City will visit La Roche at 1 p.m. Saturday for a non-conference doubleheader.