WASHINGTON, Pa. (pacathletics.org) - The 2024 Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) Baseball Tournament continued Thursday with three games. Westminster College began Thursday's action with a 2-0 victory over Thiel College in Game D, an elimination game, which was followed by Washington & Jefferson College besting Waynesburg University 10-3 in Game E. Grove City College posted a 6-0 victory over Allegheny College in Game F to close out Thursday's action.

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.

With their win Thursday, the Titans advance to play on Friday in Game G against Allegheny at 12 pm*, while W&J advances to Game H at 3 pm Friday against Grove City, as both teams improved to 2-0 in the Tournament to advance to the winner's bracket final. The Game G winner will take on the Game F loser at 6 pm Friday evening. The full schedule is listed below.

Game D
No. 5 Westminster 2, No. 6 Thiel 0
Westminster junior Ryan Gibbons (Ellwood City, Pa./Lincoln) threw eight shutout innings and the Titans used solo runs in the seventh and eighth innings to take a 2-0 victory over Thiel in Game D Thursday morning. Westminster advances to play on Friday, while the Tomcats are eliminated from the Tournament.

Westminster had chances to score early, but outstanding defensive plays by Thiel sophomore Aidan Ochs (Rostraver Township, Pa./Belle Vernon) kept the Titans off the scoreboard. Ochs threw out a runner trying to score from second on a single in the first. Then in the third inning, Ochs had a hand in all three out when he made a diving catch in left-center field and doubled off a runner on second, then threw out another potential run at the plate on another single by the Titans to end the third inning.

The Titans defense also denied the Tomcats of a run in the fourth inning. After getting runners on second and third with one out, a hard-hit grounder to Westminster senior Jake Dockum (Allenport, N.Y./Allendale Columbia) at first was fielded cleanly and Dockum's throw to the plate was in time to get the runner and keep the game tied at 0-0.

The contest was still scoreless in the seventh inning when Westminster took the lead on an RBI ground-rule double by junior Braeden Campbell (Glenshaw, Pa./Shaler). The Titan advantage doubled in the eighth inning to 2-0 when junior Chris Davis (San Francisco, Calif./Stuart Hall) rolled an RBI single through the left side.

The two-run lead was enough for the Titans, thanks to the pitching of Gibbons. He went eight shutout innings, scattering six hits while striking out three and walking three. Then sophomore Josh Reed (Beaver Falls, Pa./Blackhawk) relieved for the ninth and earned the save with a 1-2-3 inning.

Westminster totaled 10 hits in the victory, including a pair from Campbell and senior Logan Murgenovich (Aliquippa, Pa./Central Valley). For Thiel, sophomore Colton Brightwell (Eighty Four, Pa./Bentworth) had two hits and Ochs had a single to go along with his stellar defensive plays.

Game E
No. 1 Washington & Jefferson 10, No. 3 Waynesburg 3
W&J rallied from a 3-1 deficit by scoring the final nine runs of the game to post a 10-3 victory in Game E, which sent the Presidents to the winner's bracket final Friday and eliminated the Yellow Jackets from the Tournament.

The Presidents jumped in front on the first pitch of the game when junior Jacob LaDuca (Clarence, N.Y./Canisius) belted a solo homer for a 1-0 W&J lead. Waynesburg tied the game in the second inning when a throwing error allowed a run to score. The Yellow Jackets then took the lead with a run in the fourth on an RBI double by freshman Garrett Comer (St. Albans, W.Va./St. Albans) and made it a 3-1 advantage in the fifth when senior Marcos Mendez (Ponce, Puerto Rico/Westminster (Md.)) launched a solo home run.

W&J struck quickly to regain the lead in the sixth inning, which started a nine-run outburst to close the game. The Presidents pushed four runs across in the inning, highlighted by a massive two-run homer from junior Scout Zaas (Powell, Ohio/Wellington School), to take a 5-3 advantage. The Presidents tacked on another run in the seventh and added four more runs in the eighth for the final margin. Senior Nolan Lutz (McDonald, Pa./South Fayette), who drove in one in the sixth inning, knocked in two more with a single in the eighth inning.

Lutz sparked the 12-hit President attack by going 2-for-3 with three RBIs and two runs scored. In addition, LaDuca scored three runs, junior Drew Garth (Glenshaw, Pa./North Hills) had two hits and drove in two and freshman Zac Stern (Coraopolis, Pa./Montour) had a single, double, one RBI and one run scored. On the mound for the Presidents was junior Dante DiMatteo (Pittsburgh, Pa./Fox Chapel) who threw six innings in his start to get the win. Three relievers logged scoreless innings to close out the win.

For Waynesburg, Comer drove in two runs and junior Dalton Mount (Sykesville, Md./Westminster) and junior Seth Burgdolt (Taylorstown, Pa./McGuffey) both had two hits.

Game F
Grove City 6, Allegheny 0
Grove City junior David Leslie (Butler, Pa./Butler) struck out 10 over seven shutout innings and the Wolverines pounded out 14 hits in posting a 6-0 victory over Allegheny in Game F to advance to the winner's bracket final Friday against W&J. Allegheny will take on Westminster in Friday's first game at noon on Friday.

The Wolverines grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first as freshman Caison Holland (Freedom, Pa./Ambridge) doubled and scored on a two-out single from senior Markus Williams (Sewickley, Pa./Eden Christian). Grove City then added a pair of runs in the top of the fourth inning on an RBI groundout by junior shortstop Luke Vittone (Seven Fields, Pa./Eden Christian) and Williams scored on a single by senior Lucca Baccari (Irwin, Pa./Penn Trafford). 

Grove City doubled its lead with three more runs in the fifth inning. Junior Josh Minnich (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cumberland Valley) had the big hit with a two-run single and then later scored when Baccari hit into a force play. 

Meanwhile, on the mound, Leslie was cruising. After he allowed a one-out single in the first inning, he retired 16 consecutive batters, with eight of his 10 strikeouts coming in that span. A 46-minute rain delay in the eighth brought him out of the game, but junior Evan Umland (Pasadena, Calif./La Canada) threw two scoreless innings of relief to complete the three-hit shutout. 

With the bats, Grove City was led by a 4-for-5 outing from Williams. Sophomore Nick Sampson (Venetia, Pa./Peters Township) went 3-for-4 while Holland doubled twice. 

For Allegheny, junior Matt Jennings (Birmingham, Mich./Brother Rice) had one of the three Gator hits, which extended his hit streak to 33 games and his on-base streak to 41 consecutive games, tied for the 19th-longest on-base streak in Division III history.

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 - 4 teams remaining scenario below
Game G - No. 5 Westminster (19-21) vs. No. 4 Allegheny (26-13) - 12 pm* One hour later than original start time
Game H - No. 1 Washington & Jefferson (30-12) vs. No. 2 Grove City (26-12) - 3 pm* 30 minutes later than original start time
Game I - Game G Winner vs. Game H Loser - 6 pm

Saturday, May 11, 2024
Game J - Winner of Game H vs Winner of Game I
Game K - If necessary

Sunday, May 12, 2024
Rain Date

If 4 teams remain after Game F:
Game G - Winner of Game D vs Loser of Game F
Game H - Winner of Game E vs Winner of Game F
Game I - Winner of Game G vs Loser of Game H
Game J - Winner of Game H vs Winner of Game I
Game K - If Necessary

If 5 teams remain after Game F
Game G - Loser of Game E vs Loser of Game F
Game H - Winner of Game D vs Winner of Game E
Game I - Winner of Game F vs Winner of Game G

If 2 teams remain after Game I
Game J - Winner of Game H vs Winner of Game I
Game K - If Necessary

If 3 teams remain after Game I:
Game J - Winner of Game H vs Loser of Game I
Game K - Winner of Game I vs Winner of Game J