May 21, 2011
Grove City batters Medaille in ECAC opener
ASTON, Pa. -- The Grove City College baseball team earned its first-ever postseason victory Saturday afternoon as the fourth-seeded Wolverines rolled to a 14-7 win over No. 5 seed Medaille in the quarterfinals of the Eastern College Athletic Conference Southern Championship Tournament at Neumann University.
Grove City (23-16) will now face top-seeded Neumann Sunday at 9 a.m. in the semifinals. The winner will advance to Sunday afternoon's championship game against either No. 2 Penn State Behrend or No. 3 La Roche.
Senior pitcher Cory Metcalf (Ashland, Ohio/Ashland) fired a complete game for the Wolverines, striking out 10 in nine innings. He allowed five earned runs and just one walk.
Metcalf improved to 10-0 on the season with the win, becoming the first Grove City pitcher to win 10 games in one season.
Offensively, the Wolverines amassed 20 hits in the game, including eight extra-base hits. Seven Wolverine hitters had at least two hits and all nine starters had at least one hit in the win.
Senior left fielder Butch Kriger (Pittsburgh, Pa./Montour) went 4 for 5 with a double while senior shortstop Scott Moran (Columbia, Md./Chapelgate Christian) homered and singled in five at bats.
Sophomore right fielder Josh Sacks (Columbia, Md./Chapelgate Christian) doubled twice. Senior center fielder Dan Quirk (Saratoga Springs, N.Y./Schuylerville) and junior second baseman Brandon Durbin (Zelienople, Pa./Seneca Valley) both doubled and singled. Senior DH Marcus Magister (Allison Park, Pa./Hampton) and freshman third baseman Evan Hoskinson (Uniontown, Ohio/Green) both singled twice. Hoskinson, making his first collegiate start, also drove in three runs.
Sophomore first baseman Kyle Shock (Loudonville, Ohio/Hillsdale) and freshman first baseman Ryan Parker (Houston, Pa./Chartiers-Houston) both doubled.
Grove City used a four-run second inning to help take command. Hoskinson singled in sophomore catcher Doug Wells (Staten Island, N.Y./St. Peter's) to break a 1-1 tie and Moran capped the inning with a two-run homer.
Hoskinson's two-run single down the left-field line in the fifth ignited a five-run outburst that allowed the Wolverines to extend their lead to 11-3. Medaille closed to within 11-6 but Grove City put away the game with three more runs in the seventh.
Quirk led off with a double and later scored on Moran's sacrifice fly. Magister later singled in Kriger and Parker doubled in Magister.
The Wolverines were 0-3 all-time in postseason play prior to Saturday's win. Grove City went 0-2 at the 2008 NCAA Championship Tournament and then fell in the quarterfinals of the 2010 ECAC Tournament. Grove City's 23 wins this year are the third-most in program history, trailing only the 2006 team (26-13) and the 1999 squad (24-13).
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