WASHINGTON, Pa. (pacathletics.org)--Top-seeded Washington & Jefferson College and No. 3 Grove City College each earned victories on the opening day of the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) Baseball Championship Tournament.

W&J (33-8) scored a 10-9 (11 inn.) win over No. 4 Westminster College (22-18) to open tournament action Thursday. Grove City (28-12) clipped No. 2 Saint Vincent College (24-13) in an 8-7 win in the nightcap.

The league’s four-team, double-elimination championship tournament is being held Thursday-Saturday, May 12-14 at Ross Memorial Park in Washington. The PAC Sports Network (PACSN) is delivering live broadcasts of all of this year’s championship tournament games at pacstream.net.

Friday, Grove City will face W&J (Game C) at 12 p.m. with the winner advancing to Saturday’s championship round. Westminster and Saint Vincent (Game D) will meet in the tournament’s first elimination game at 3 p.m. The loser of Game C will meet the winner of Game D in the day's second elimination game at 6 p.m.

The PAC Championship Tournament winner will earn the conference’s automatic qualifying bid to the NCAA Division III Championship. Selections for the Division III Championship are scheduled to be announced Monday, May 16 with regional preliminary round play slated for Friday-Monday, May 20-22. Regional champions will compete in the Super Regionals, a best-of-three series, to determine the eight participants in this year’s Division III College World Series, scheduled for Friday-Wednesday, June 3-8. The Division III College World Series will be held at Perfect Game Field at Veterans Memorial Stadium in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. 
 

Thursday, May 12

PAC Championship Tournament [Game B] No. 3 Grove City vs. No. 2 Saint Vincent Ross Memorial Park--Washington, Pa.

Result: Grove City 8, Saint Vincent 7 Box score

Grove City scored four runs in the top of the first inning... Freshman Mally Kilbane (Olmsted Falls, Ohio | Olmsted Falls) smacked a two-run home run in the inning while freshman Nico Rodriguez (Stafford, Va. | Mountain View) and senior Jesse Clary (Cranberry Township, Pa. | Eden Christian) delivered back-to-back run scoring singles... Saint Vincent plated three runs on a hit and a pair of Grove City errors in the third inning... Sophomore Markus Williams (Sewickley, Pa. | Eden Christian) had a run-scoring single in the sixth and senior Bubba Hamilton (Garner, N.C. | Waynesboro, Pa.) hit his fourth home run of the season in the seventh to push Grove City's lead to 6-3... Freshman John Evans (New Brighton, Pa. | Our Lady of the Sacred Heart) scored on an error and sophomore Dimitri Gary (Sewickley, Pa. | Sewickley Academy) had an RBI single in the seventh to trip the lead to 6-5... Evans tripled in the eighth, scoring senior Casey Jones (Georgetown, Pa. | South Side Beaver) and evening the score at 6-6... Jones led off the inning with a double... Junior Jordan Sabol (Export, Pa. | Penn-Trafford) followed with a two-out, run-scoring single to stake Saint Vincent to a 7-6 lead... In the bottom of the inning Rodriguez cracked a two-run home run to left to push Grove City ahead 8-7... Freshman Shane Cato (New Castle, Pa. | Shenango) earned the victory for Grove City... He allowed one run (1 earned) on two hits in 1.1 relief innings... Grove City senior Tate Ostrowski (Essex, Mass. | Covenant Christian) left after 6.1 innings with a no decision... He allowed five runs (4 earned) on four hits with five walks and three strikeouts... Hamilton went 4-for-5 with a double, a home run, one RBI and two runs scored... Rodriguez finished 3-for-5 with a home run, three RBIs and a run scored... Junior Tyler Chrise (Harrison City, Pa. | Penn-Trafford) took the loss for Saint Vincent... He allowed two runs (2 earned) on four hits in 2.0 relief innings... Saint Vincent sophomore starter Jeremy Kruezweiser (Canfield, Ohio | Ursuline) left after 5.2 innings with a no decision... He allowed five runs (5 earned) on nine hits with three strikeouts on two walks... Sabol went 2-for-4 with a double and two RBIs.

 

Thursday, May 12

PAC Championship Tournament [Game A] No. 4 Westminster vs. No. 1 W&J Ross Memorial Park--Washington, Pa.

Result: W&J 10, Westminster 9 (11 inn.) Box score

Sophomore Logan Murganovich (Aliquippa, Pa. | Central Valley) keyed Westminster's five-run second inning with a two-out, two-run double... With W&J training 5-2 after three innings, junior Trevor Dean (San Diego, Calif. | Rancho Bernardo) smacked a two-run home run before senior Peter Kalinski (Washington, D.C. | Saint John's College) delivered a two-run single that tied the game at 5-5... Down 8-7 going into the ninth, sophomore Carter Chinn (Grove City, Pa. | Grove City) gave Westminster a 9-8 lead with two-run home run... W&J junior Tyler Horvat (Irwin, Pa. | Penn-Trafford) evened the score in the bottom of the ninth with an RBI single... Horvat supplied the game-winning base hit in the 11th, scoring Dean following his leadoff single... Horvat exited after 7.0 innings with a no decision... He allowed six runs (2 earned) on 10 hits with five strikeouts... He went 3-for-7 with three RBIs and a run scored... Junior Cameron Hayman (Windsor, Calif. | Windsor) picked up his first victory of the season, allowing one walk in 1.0 inning of work... Dean finished 3-for-6 with a home run, one RBI and a pair of runs scored... Chinn went 3-for-6 with a home run, two RBIs and two runs scored... Senior Matt Costello (New Castle, Pa. Union) finished 3-for-4 with an RBI... Freshman Jake Vitale (New Castle, Pa. | Union) left after 6.0 innings with a no decision... He allowed five runs (3 earned) on eight hits with three walks and three strikeouts... W&J outhit Westminster 17-10... Thursday's Game A appearance was Westminster's first in the championship tournament since winning the PAC title in 2012.