LATROBE, Pa. -- The Grove City College baseball team moved closer to clinching one of the four berths in the season-ending Presidents' Athletic Conference Championship Tournament by sweeping a conference doubleheader Thursday afternoon at Saint Vincent. Grove City won the opener at Bearcat Ballfield, 9-4, then pulled out a 9-8 win in Game Two. Grove City (23-7, 10-2) has now won seven straight games. Saint Vincent (15-15, 8-6) entered the twinbill on an eight-game winning streak.

Senior pitcher Tate Ostrowski (Essex, Mass./Covenant Christian) pitched into the ninth inning in Game One to earn his seventh victory of the season. Ostrowski (7-1) struck out 10 men while allowing three runs and five hits over eight innings. Senior Robby Randolph (Cranberry Township, Pa./North Catholic) closed out the win by recording the final three outs.

Senior catcher C.J. Saylor (Lancaster, Pa./Hempfield) gave Grove City a 1-0 lead in the second inning when he scored on a wild pitch. He then sparked Grove City's four-run fourth inning by hitting a leadoff home run to left field.

The lead grew to 3-0 when sophomore shortstop Luke Vittone (Seven Fields, Pa./Eden Christian) doubled in sophomore DH Shane Cato (New Castle, Pa./Shenango) and junior first baseman Markus Williams (Sewickley, Pa./Eden Christian). Vittone then scored on a single by junior third baseman Mally Kilbane (Olmsted Falls, Ohio/Olmsted Falls). 

The Wolverines broke open the game with four more runs in the eighth. Sophomore left fielder Josh Minnich (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cumberland Valley) roped a single up the middle that plated Kilbane and Vittone. Saylor followed by belting a triple that brough in Minnich and Kilbane. Saylor subsequently scored on a balk.

Saylor and Williams both finished 3 for 5. Minnich and Vittone both finished with a pair of hits for Grove City, which collected 13 total hits in the opener. 

Grove City trailed 2-0 in Game Two, rallied to take a 4-2 lead, only for Saint Vincent to reclaim a 5-4 lead in the bottom of the fifth inning. Grove City stormed back to lead 9-6 in the eighth inning, then held off another Saint Vincent rally.

Saint Vincent scored twice in the bottom of the eighth and had the tying run at second base with one out. That is when senior Noah Cyphert (Kittanning, Pa./Armstrong) entered from the Grove City bullpen to make his second collegiate pitching appearance. The right-hander recorded a foul out and after an error in the infield that put the go-ahead run on base, Cyphert forced Alex Hess to fly out. 

In the ninth, Cyphert retired the Bearcats in order to secure his first collegiate save. 

Sophomore pitcher Evan Umland (Pasadena, Calif./La Canada) earned the win by pitching five innings. Umland (6-2) yielded five runs in his stint. Sophomore Isaiah Zuchowski (Barneveld, N.Y./Poland) pitched 2 1/3 innings of relief and allowed a pair of earned runs. 

The Wolverines took their first lead of the nightcap by scoring four times in the fourth inning. Sophomore DH David Leslie (Butler, Pa./Butler) scored on a sacrifice fly from junior second baseman Lucca Baccari (Irwin, Pa./Penn-Trafford), trimming the lead to 2-1. Vittone singled in Williams with the tying run while Minnich broke the tie with a two-run single that scored Vittone and sophomore left fielder Nico Rodriguez (Stafford, Va./Mountain View). 

A three-run outburst gave Saint Vincent a 5-4 lead in the fifth inning. Grove City quickly answered, however, as Cato smacked a two-run double that scored Saylor and Minnich. Baccari drove in Cato with a fielder's choice, pushing the lead to 7-5. 

Cato, who replaced Leslie in the DH spot earlier in the game, launched a two-run homer in the eighth inning. He finished 3 for 3 with four runs batted in. Minnich also had three hits. He has a career-best 12-game hitting streak. 

Saylor and Vittone now share the team lead with five home runs. Cato has three homers in 2023. As a team, Grove City has 13 round-trippers over the last 11 games. 

Cyphert is the fourth Grove City pitcher with a save this year. Leslie and Umland both have three saves while Zuchowski has one save.

Grove City will host Thiel at 1 p.m. Saturday in a conference doubleheader at Jack Behringer Field.