WASHINGTON, Pa. (pacathletics.org) - Top-seeded Washington & Jefferson College and second-seeded Grove City College emerged from Friday's action at the 2024 Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) Baseball Tournament Championship Game and the teams will meet on Saturday at 2 pm in the championship game. 

For the first time this season, the conference tournament will be a six-team, double-elimination championship. It will be held Wednesday-Saturday, May 8-11 at Ross Memorial Park in Washington, Pa. The PAC Sports Network (PACSN) will deliver live broadcasts of all of this year's tournament games at pacstream.net.

W&J won the winner's bracket game by a 12-2 score over Grove City to be the first team to reach the title game. Grove City then defeated Westminster College 8-4 in Friday's last game to earn the other spot in the championship game. Westminster won the first match-up of the day by a 5-4 score over Allegheny College to reach Friday's final contest.

Game G
No. 5 Westminster 5, No. 4 Allegheny 4
Westminster sophomore Josh Reed (Beaver Falls, Pa./Blackhawk) hit a two-run single with two outs in the bottom of the eighth to complete a three-run rally, as the Titans came back for a 5-4 victory in Game G over Allegheny. Westminster stays alive to play in Game I at 6 pm against the loser of the W&J/Grove City game.

The first run of the game crossed home in the bottom of the third when the Titans took a 1-0 lead on an RBI single by junior Chris Davis (San Francisco, Calif./Stuart Hall). Allegheny responded to take a 2-1 lead in the fourth when junior William Wolff (Naples, Fla./Gulf Coast) hit a two-run single, but the game was tied up at 2-2 in the Westminster half of the fourth on an RBI single by Titan graduate student Carter Chinn (Grove City, Pa. Grove City).

The score remained knotted at 2-2 until the eighth when Allegheny broke the tie. Senior Anthony Maslo (Wexford, Pa./North Allegheny) drew a leadoff walk and with two outs, senior Ryan Dougherty (Wexford, Pa./North Allegheny) blasted a two-run homer to left field to give the Gators a 4-2 advantage.

A one-out error in the bottom of the eighth started the Westminster rally and was followed by consecutive singles to load the bases. Allegheny got a K for the second out, but a walk by Chinn drove in a run and made it 4-3. Then Reed hit a single that scored a pair and lifted the Titans into the lead at 5-4. Junior Jake Vitale (New Castle, Pa./Union) closed out the Gators in the ninth to earn his second save of the season, with senior Logan Exler (Verona, Pa. Serra Catholic) earning the win in relief.

Chinn was the spark for the Westminster offense, going 3-for-3 with a walk and two RBIs, while senior Jake Dockum (Fairport, N.Y./Allendale Columbia) had two hits and scored twice. Allegheny finished with 12 hits in the defeat, including three for Dougherty and junior Matt Jennings (Birmingham, Mich./Brother Rice), who extended his hitting streak to 34 games and on-base streak to 42 games.


Game H
Washington & Jefferson 12, Grove City 5
Behind 17 hits on the offensive side and eight strong innings from Ethan Marszalek (Katy, Texas/Seven Lakes), the top seed W&J posted a dominating 12-5 victory in Game H over second-seeded Grove City to advance to Saturday's championship game.

The Presidents led from start to finish in the game, racing out to a 4-0 lead after two innings. Junior Drew Garth (Glenshaw, Pa./North Hills) brought home the first run with a single in the first and then he scored on an RBI single by junior Scout Zaas (Powell, Ohio/Wellington School). That lead doubled with one swing of the bat in the second inning when Garth crushed a two-run homer to deep right field to make it 4-0.

The Wolverines managed a run in the third inning on an RBI triple by freshman Sam Bevin (Louisville, Ky./Wake County), but W&J pushed four runs across in the fourth inning and four more in the sixth. Garth collected his fourth RBI of the game with a sac fly as part of the fourth inning and freshman Zac Stern (Coraopolis, Pa./Montour) slammed a three-run home run to highlight the Presidents' sixth inning, which extended their lead to 12-1. 

Grove City managed to score another run in the seventh, but the Wolverine bats were limited by Marszalek. The W&J right-hander would finish eight strong innings, allowing two runs on eight hits while striking out four.

The top five hitters in the W&J line-up finished the afternoon with 12 of the Presidents' 17 hits. Stern and junior Jacob LaDuca (Clarence, N.Y./Canisius) had three hits each, with Stern driving in three and LaDuca scoring three times. Garth had two hits and four RBIs, while senior Nolan Lutz (McDonald, Pa./South Fayette) and Zaas both managed a pair of hits and knocked in two each.

Grove City accumulated 12 hits in the setback, as Bevin had three of those and drove in three and junior Sam DiStefano (Fairview, Pa./Fairview) also had three hits.

Game I
Grove City 8, Westminster 4
Grove City broke a 3-3 tie by erupting for five runs in the eighth inning and junior Evan Umland (Pasadena, Calif./La Canada) finished a complete game to lift the Wolverines to an 8-4 victory over Westminster and a spot in the championship game on Saturday against W&J.

The Titans grabbed the early lead with a pair of first-inning runs on RBI singles by senior Jake Dockum (Fairport, N.Y./Allendale Columbia) and graduate student Carter Chinn (Grove City, Pa./Grove City). The score remained 2-0 until the fourth when sophomore Trey Wagner (Mars, Pa./Mars) hit a sacrifice fly and then in the fifth, Grove City evened the score on an RBI double from junior Jake Minnich (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cumberland Valley).

The teams swapped runs in the seventh to make it 3-3, Grove City's coming on an RBI single by senior Markus Williams (Sewickley, Pa./Eden Christian) and Westminster's from a run-scoring single by junior Chris Davis (San Francisco, Calif./Stuart Hall). Then the Wolverines took the lead for good in the eighth with a five-run outburst. It started with a tie-breaking RBI single by sophomore Kenny Lavrich (Franklin, Pa./Cranberry).  Following a squeeze bunt fielder's choice that scored one and a sacrifice fly, sophomore Nick Sampson (Venetia, Pa./Peters Township) hit a two-run single to cap the rally and give the Wolverines an 8-3 lead.

On the hill, Umland made the lead stand. He would go the distance, allowing four runs on 12 hits while striking out eight and he did not walk a batter in pitching the Wolverines into the PAC Championship game for the first time since 2017.

Grove City finished the evening with 15 hits, including three each from freshman Sam Bevin (Louisville, Ky./Wake County) and Sampson. Freshman Caison Holland (Freedom, Pa./Ambridge) Minnich and junior Luke Vittone (Seven Fields, Pa./Eden Christian) all had two hits apiece. Bevin scored three times in the win, while Minnich and Sampson both drove in a pair.

Four Westminster batters collected multiple hits in the contest, led by Davis with three hits and he also knocked in one and scored once. Collecting two hits each for the Titans were junior Braeden Campbell (Glenshaw, Pa./Shaler), senior Logan Murgenovich (Aliquippa, Pa./Central Valley) and senior Chase Tomko (Hermitage, Pa./West Middlesex).


The full schedule is listed below.

2024 PAC Baseball Championship Tournament
All Games at Ross Memorial Park - Washington, Pa.

Wednesday, May 8, 2024
Game A - No. 1 Washington & Jefferson 6, No. 6 Thiel 5
Game B - No. 2 Grove City 4, No. 5 Westminster 0
Game C - No. 4 Allegheny 4, No. 3 Waynesburg 2

Thursday, May 9, 2024
Game D - No. 5 Westminster 2, No. 6 Thiel 0 (THI eliminated)
Game E - No. 1 Washington & Jefferson 10, Waynesburg 3 (WAY eliminated)
Game F - No. 2 Grove City 6, No. 4 Allegheny 0

Friday, May 10, 2024
Game G - No. 5 Westminster 5, No. 4 Allegheny 4 (ALL eliminated)
Game H - No. 1 Washington & Jefferson 12, No. 2 Grove City 5
Game I - No. 2 Grove City 8, No. 5 Westminster 4 (WES eliminated)

Saturday, May 11, 2024
Game J - No. 1 Washington & Jefferson (31-12) vs No. 2 Grove City (27-13) - 2 pm  Video / Stats
Game K - If necessary - 5 pm

Sunday, May 12, 2024
Rain Date