WASHINGTON, Pa. (pacathletics.org) - The 2025 Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) Baseball Tournament started Wednesday with three games and all three top seeds in Washington & Jefferson College, Grove City College and Allegheny College rode excellent pitching to wins on the opening day.

The conference tournament will be a six-team, double-elimination championship for the second consecutive year. It will be held Wednesday-Saturday, May 7-10 at Ross Memorial Park in Washington, Pa. The PAC Sports Network (PACSN) will deliver live broadcasts of all of this year's tournament games and to access the broadcasts, just click the link above.

Game A
No. 1 Washington & Jefferson 7, No. 6 Thiel 1

The Presidents' road to a sixth straight PAC crown began with a 7-1 victory over Thiel behind a stellar pitching effort from Dante DiMatteo and an offense that posted 10 hits. 

After a scoreless three innings, W&J surged in front with three runs in the fourth inning. The initial run came home on an RBI single by Zac Stern, the lead grew to 2-0 on an RBI single by Brody Bartenstein and a double steal brought in the third run when Stern swiped home while Bartenstein took second. The Presidents tacked on two more in the fifth when Brian Feldman rolled a single through the middle to plate a pair to make it 5-0.

While DiMatteo held Thiel scoreless through seven innings, the Presidents added to their lead in the seventh. Stern picked up his second RBI of the game with a fielder's choice and Scout Zaas lofted a sac fly to make it a 7-0 advantage.

The Tomcats managed to clip one off the deficit in the eighth inning, but it took a double play to bring in the run, which helped limit a potential Thiel rally. That would be the only Thiel run, as DiMatteo and two relievers held the Tomcat bats in check. DiMatteo posted seven shutout innings with seven strikeouts and one walk, as he improved his record to 9-0 this season.

A trio of Presidents had two-hits days at the plate, led by Knox Meier, who had a single, double and three runs scored in the win. Also collecting a pair of hits were Feldman to match his two RBIs and Jacob LaDuca, who also scored a run to go with his two singles. 

Thiel managed seven hits in the game, two off the bat of Joey Schimizzi, while Calvin Cackowski had a double for the lone extra-base hit.

Game B
No. 2 Grove City 10, No. 5 Saint Vincent 3

A three-run first inning gave Grove City the early lead and they continued adding on, posting a 10-3 victory over Saint Vincent in Game B Wednesday.

The Wolverines struck for a trio of runs in the opening frame, with Josh Minnich knocking in the first with a single and that was followed by a two-run single by Luke Vittone. 

Saint Vincent answered with a run in the second on an RBI groundout by Ben Hudson, but the Wolverines pushed two more across in the bottom of the second. Minnich drove his RBI count up to three for the day when he lofted a two-run double down the right-field line to give Grove City a 5-1 cushion.

Grove City logged another run in the fourth inning on some hustling base running. After Nick Sampson singled with two outs, he raced all the way around to score on a single by Colin Marinpetro into right-center field, which extended the Wolverine lead to 6-1. Grove City would push one more run across in the sixth and three in the eighth to reach their final total of 10 runs.

The early run support was plenty for Grove City starting pitcher Dash Lanzilotta. He recorded seven strong innings in his first PAC Tournament start and he worked through four hit batters to give up just one run on four hits with five strikeouts.

With the sticks, Minnich sparked the 14-hit attack by going 3-for-5 with a pair of doubles, three RBIs and a run scored. Vittone also collected three hits and drove in a pair, while Sampson, Marinpetro, Sam Bevin and Sam Meredith all had two hits each.

Highlighting the Saint Vincent efforts was LJ Evans, who went 4-for-4 with a double and a run scored.

Game C
No. 3 Allegheny 4, No. 4 Westminster 1

Allegheny broke a 1-1 tie with three runs in the sixth inning and closed out a 4-1 victory over Westminster in Game C to complete the opening day of the Tournament.

The Gators were first to put a run across, as a two-out RBI single by JD Robinson in the first inning put Allegheny in front 1-0. While both teams would get runners on base over the next few innings, both starting pitchers kept it a one-run game. Allegheny starter Matt Jennings threw five scoreless innings with just four hits to open the game, while Titan starter Kolton Banfi allowed just one run on five hits in the opening five innings.

Both offenses got in the action in the sixth. In the top of the inning, Westminster's Parker Lyons blooped an RBI double into shallow center to draw Westminster even at 1-1. The game only remained tied until the last of the sixth when Allegheny's Alejandro Samayoa hit a bases-loaded single to score a pair and an RBI fielder's choice by Grant Dowden pushed the Gators' lead to 4-1.

The pitching settled back down after the sixth, as neither team scored the rest of the game. Jennings shook off two singles in the seventh and finished the inning with a punchout. He was replaced by Harrison Ashley in the eighth and the freshman tossed two scoreless innings, finishing the night with a called third strike. He earned the save for Jennings, who scattered seven hits over seven innings while striking out five and walking just one.

Jennings also had a pair of hits at the plate and scored once, while William Wolff was 3-for-4 and scored twice. 

For Westminster, Banfi threw a complete game, going eight innings and allowing four runs, three earned, on eight hits with one K. The lone Titan to have multiple hits in the contest was Logan Murgenovich, who was 3-for-4 with three singles.

The schedule for Thursday is now set and starts with Game D, an elimination game between Saint Vincent and Thiel at 11 am. Game E is set for 2:30 pm and will feature W&J taking on Westminster. Closing out Thursday will be Game F between Grove City and Allegheny at 6 pm.


2025 PAC Baseball Championship Tournament
All games at Ross Memorial Park - Washington, Pa.

Wednesday, May 7
A - No. 1 Washington & Jefferson 7, No. 6 Thiel 1 - Box Score
B - No. 2 Grove City 10, No. 5 Saint Vincent 3 - Box Score
C - No. 3 Allegheny 4, No. 4 Westminster 1 - Box Score

Thursday, May 8
D - Thiel (14-26) vs Saint Vincent (18-21) - 11 am
E - W&J (27-13) vs Westminster (16-21) - 2:30 pm
F - Grove City (28-10) vs Allegheny (22-16) - 6 pm

Friday, May 9
G - (see below) - 11 am
H - (see below) - 2:30 pm
I - (see below) - 6 pm

Saturday, May 10
J - TBD
K - If necessary - 30 min after   

Sunday, May 11
Rain Date 

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

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

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

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