GROVE CITY, Pa. -- The Grove City College baseball team opened its home and Presidents' Athletic Conference schedules Saturday afternoon by taking both ends of a doubleheader from visiting Chatham (13-3, 0-2) at Jack Behringer Field. Grove City (7-8, 2-0) rallied for a 6-5, 12-inning victory in the opener, then captured an 8-4 triumph in the second game.

In Game One, junior right fielder Caleb Backos (Troy, Mich./Bloomfield Christian) broke a 5-5 tie in the bottom of the 12th inning when his one-out double to center field scored freshman shortstop Kyle Rhineberger (Perry, Ohio/Perry). Rhineberger led off the inning with a single up the middle. 

Grove City trailed 4-0 in the fourth inning before battling back. Backos scored in the fourth inning on a groundout by freshman third baseman Nick Remish (Norristown, Pa./Methacton). The Wolverines then closed the gap to 5-4 in the sixth inning when sophomore second baseman Kallen Durbin (Harmony, Pa./Seneca Valley) singled in Remish and junior left fielder Dan Luko (Murrysville, Pa./Franklin Regional) followed with a two-run home run to left center. 

Luko tied the game in the bottom of the eighth inning by singling in Remish, who led off the inning with a double.

Junior center fielder David Chandler (Leesburg, Pa./St. John's) also doubled for Grove City, which outhit Chatham, 9-8.

Freshman pitcher Wyatt Hopson (Middletown, Md./Middletown) earned the win by pitching 4 2/3 innings of scoreless relief. The rookie left-hander struck out five and allowed one hit. 

Sophomore Bryce Trischler (Mars, Pa./Shady Side Academy) started and yielded three earned runs in 1 2/3 innings. Freshman Caz Ostrowski (Essex, Mass./Covenant Christian) pitched 5 2/3 innings of relief. He struck out six while allowing a run and four hits. 

Senior pitcher Kenny Lavrich (Franklin, Pa./Cranberry) earned the win in Game Two by pitching a career-best 8 1/3 innings. He allowed one earned run and six hits while fanning five. Freshman Graham Romer (New Albany, Ohio/New Albany) recorded the save by retiring the final two batters of the game.

Luko's two-run double in the first inning helped Grove City jump out to a 3-0 lead. Chatham cut the lead to 3-2 but Backos doubled in Chandler in the bottom of the second inning. Freshman catcher Johnny Reyes (Hubbard, Ohio/Hubbard) and senior first baseman Colin Marinpetro (Imperial, Pa./West Allegheny) both added run-scoring singles as Grove City took a 6-4 lead into the bottom of the seventh.

Chandler doubled the lead to 8-4 with two outs in the seventh when he singled in Luko and Reyes.

Backos finished 3 for 4 while Chandler and Luko both finished 2 for 4. Chandler scored three times. 

Grove City will visit conference rival Westminster for a doubleheader Tuesday at 1 p.m. in New Wilmington.