WASHINGTON, Pa. -- The Grove City College baseball team advanced to the winner's bracket final in the Presidents' Athletic Conference Championship Tournament by rallying for a 6-5 victory over Saint Vincent in the opening round of the tournament, held Thursday at Washington & Jefferson College's Ross Memorial Park.

Second-seeded Grove City will now face top-seeded W&J at 12 p.m. Friday in the second day of action in the three-day event. W&J defeated fourth-seeded Westminster in Thursday's lidlifter, 8-4.

Grove City (30-9) trailed 5-2 entering the bottom of the seventh but stormed back to tie the game. Sophomore third baseman Mally Kilbane (Olmsted Falls, Ohio/Olmsted Falls) sparked the comeback with a solo home run to left, his third hit of the game.

Following a walk to senior catcher C.J. Saylor (Lancaster, Pa./Hempfield), junior first baseman Markus Williams (Sewickley, Pa./Eden Christian) cracked a one-out book-rule double to left field. 

Sophomore DH Shane Cato (New Castle, Pa./Shenango) then bounced a game-tying single through the right side of the drawn-in infield, scoring Saylor and Williams.

Grove City surged ahead in the bottom of the eighth when Kilbane doubled in sophomore shortstop Luke Vittone (Seven Fields, Pa./Eden Christian)

In the top of the ninth, winning pitcher Evan Umland (Pasadena, Calif./La Canada) struck out a pair of Saint Vincent batters to secure the victory.

Grove City took a 2-1 lead in the second inning when Williams and Saylor scored on a two-run single from junior second baseman Lucca Baccari (Irwin, Pa./Penn Trafford). 

Kilbane finished 4 for 5 to help lead Grove City's 13-hit attack. Williams and senior right fielder Anthony Tambellini (Pittsburgh, Pa./Montour) both went 2 for 4 while freshman center fielder Nick Sampson (Venetia, Pa./Peters Township) also had two hits. 

Umland (7-3) pitched two hitless innings of relief to earn the win. Senior pitcher Tate Ostrowski (Essex, Mass./Covenant Christian) allowed two earned runs in 6 1/3 innings. He struck out three and yielded six hits. Senior Robby Randolph (Cranberry Township, Pa./North Catholic) recorded the final two outs of the seventh inning.

Saint Vincent will face Westminster in an elimination game at 3 p.m. Friday. The Saint Vincent-Westminster winner will then play the losing team from the Grove City-W&J clash in Friday's third game, which will start at 6 p.m.

Grove City and W&J split their conference doubleheader April 3 at W&J. The Wolverines won the opener, 13-6, while W&J won Game Two, 2-1.

This is the first 30-win season in Grove City history. Kilbane is hitting .474. His 64 hits are one away from tying the school record set by Matt Waugaman in 2016. Micah Burke tied the mark with 65 hits during the 2019 season.