April 22, 2006

Wolverines split with Presidents

WASHINGTON, Pa. -- The Grove City College baseball team split a Presidents' Athletic Conference doubleheader at Washington and Jefferson Saturday afternoon at Ross Memorial Park. Grove City (20-8, 9-6 PAC) dropped the opener, 3-0, but bounced back for an 11-8 win in the nightcap.

Senior pitcher Erik Arnesen (Princeton, N.J./Timothy Christian) improved to 7-0 in 2006 by earning the victory in Game Two. Arnesen earned the win despite allowing seven earned runs in 5 1/3 innings. He struck out six and allowed 10 hits.

Arnesen's seven wins sets a new Grove City single-season record. Dave Meadows (1991) and Jeff Meyers (1999) each won six games in a season. Arnesen also set a new Grove City single-season strikeout record. He now has 63 rubouts on the season, surpassing the previous mark of 58, set by Paul Barnes in 1977.

Grove City collected 17 hits in the second game, including seven extra-base hits. Freshman DH Brad Stombaugh (Pittsburgh, Pa./Mount Lebanon) helped lead the Wolverine attack with a 4-for-5 outing, including a pair of doubles. Stombaugh also drove in three runs. His two-run double in the first inning gave Grove City an early 2-0 lead.

Senior right fielder Jerry Ott (Bridgeville, Pa./South Fayette) also drove in three runs as he tripled and singled in four at-bats while senior shortstop Mike Ritter (Moon Township, Pa./Moon) went 3-for-5 with a double. Freshman second baseman Ben Wilson (Mechanicsville, Va./Lee-Davis) matched Ritter by going 3-for-5 with a double.

Sophomore third baseman Bryan Pierrot (Wadsworth, Ohio/Wadsworth) tripled, singled and drove in two runs while junior left fielder Chris Schwamberger (Mansfield, Ohio/Madison) knocked in a pair of runs with a sixth-inning double.

Grove City led 9-1 entering the bottom of the fifth before the Presidents (21-7, 9-3 PAC) pulled to within 9-7 with a six-run outburst. The Presidents had runners on second and third but Grove City catcher Ray Mertz (Glenshaw, Pa./Shaler) picked W&J's Ron Mitko off third base to end the inning.

Schwamberger's double scored Mertz and Wilson, doubling the Wolverine lead to 11-7.

Junior reliever Justin Miller (Harrisburg, Pa./Susquehanna Township) closed out the win by pitching 1 2/3 scoreless innings.

In the opener, Grove City senior pitcher Ryan Carr (New Castle, Pa./Mohawk) allowed only three runs and six hits in six innings but took the defeat. Grove City had just three hits -- all singles -- in the opener.

Grove City's 20 victories this season are the second-most in school history, trailing only the 1999 squad, which went 24-13.

The Wolverines will visit Oberlin in a non-conference doubleheader Thursday afternoon at 2 p.m.

Game One Box Score        Game Two Box Score

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