GROVE CITY, Pa. -- The Grove City College baseball team moved to 9-5 in the Presidents' Athletic Conference by splitting a home doubleheader Thursday afternoon with Saint Vincent at Jack Behringer Field. Saint Vincent secured a 5-2 win in the opener but Grove City (18-12 overall) rebounded for an 11-1 victory in the nightcap. Game Two lasted only seven innings due to the 10-run mercy rule.
Junior pitcher
Evan Umland (Pasadena, Calif./La Canada) fired a complete game in Game Two, striking out eight men over seven innings. He did not allow an earned run in picking up his fourth victory of the season.
Offensively, Grove City belted 17 hits in Game Two. Senior second baseman
Lucca Baccari (Irwin, Pa./Penn Trafford) went 3 for 4 with two runs scored while junior right fielder
Josh Minnich (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cumberland Valley) doubled twice.
Junior catcher
Aaron Gault (Youngstown, Ohio/Heartland Christian), junior shortstop
Luke Vittone (Seven Fields, Pa./Eden Christian), sophomore DH
Andrew Seest (Fort Collins, Colo./Fort Collins), freshman third baseman
Sam Bevin (Louisville, Ky./Wake County) and freshman left fielder
Caison Holland (Freedom, Pa./Ambridge) all had two hits.
Grove City grabbed a 2-0 lead in the second inning as Gault singled in sophomore center fielder
Nick Sampson (Venetia, Pa./Peters Township) and Baccari scored on a Bevin groundout. The lead swelled to 4-0 in the third as Seest singled in Vittone and Sampson came home on a Baccari single.
The Wolverines broke open the nightcap with a four-run fifth inning. Gault singled in sophomore pinch runner
Raymond Stierer (Sewickley, Pa./Eden Christian) while a Holland groundout brought in Baccari. Minnich doubled in Gault and then scored when senior first baseman
Markus Williams (Sewickley, Pa./Eden Christian) singled to left.
Minnich doubled in Bevin in the seventh, pushing Grove City's lead to 9-1. Vittone's two-run single brought in Minnich and Williams.
Grove City took a 2-1 lead into the seventh inning of Game One but Saint Vincent rallied. Junior pitcher
David Leslie (Butler, Pa./Butler) started and struck 10 men in six innings. He allowed one run and five hits.
Freshmen
Micheal Earman (Grove City, Pa./Grove City),
Jack Houston (Vienna, Va./Vienna) and
David Gallagher (Coraopolis, Pa./Montour) all pitched in relief, with Earman absorbing the loss.
Grove City scored twice in the third as Holland's sacrifice fly scored junior catcher
Sam DiStefano (Fairview, Pa./Fairview) and Williams singled in Bevin. Bevin went 2 for 4.
The Wolverines will visit Franciscan at 1 p.m. Saturday for a conference doubleheader in Steubenville.
