April 17, 2004

Grove City splits at Waynesburg

GROVE CITY, Pa. -- The Grove City College baseball team moved closer to securing a berth in the season-ending Presidents' Athletic Conference Championship Tournament by splitting a doubleheader at PAC rival Waynesburg Saturday afternoon.

Grove City (9-14, 6-5 PAC) rallied from an early 6-1 deficit to take the opener 11-7. Waynesburg (9-13, 4-6) rebounded for a 7-3 win in the second game.

In the opener, sophomore reliever Erik Arnesen (Princeton, N.J./Timothy Christian) earned the victory after pitching seven innings in relief of starter Chris Hull (Chagrin Falls, Ohio/Chagrin Falls). Arnesen replaced Hull in the first and allowed just one run during his stint. He struck out 12 Waynesburg batters and walked just one.

The Wolverines assembled a six-run outburst in the top of the second, chasing Waynesburg starter Dan Coghlan. Junior catcher A.J. Stedford (Beaver, Pa./Beaver) opened the inning with a solo homer. Later in the inning, senior second baseman Jake Cuthbert (Belle Vernon, Pa./Belle Vernon) cracked a two-run double, cutting Waynesburg's lead to 6-4.

Sophomore center fielder Jerry Ott (Bridgeville, Pa./South Fayette) tied the game with a two-run double of his own. He later scored Grove City's sixth run of the inning on junior Joel Diller's (Hartville, Ohio/Marlington) double. 

Grove City doubled its lead to 8-6 in the fifth as senior DH Greg Grupp (Harmony, Pa./Slippery Rock) led off with a single and eventually came home on a run-scoring hit from sophomore shortstop Mike Ritter (Moon, Pa./Moon). The Wolverines added three more runs in the seventh as Grupp scored on a Ritter single while Diller also came home on an error. Sophomore Greg Hrebinko (Pittsburgh, Pa./Mount Lebanon) drove in Ritter with a single.

Ritter finished 3-for-4 while Ott drove in a pair of runs. Cuthbert doubled, singled and scored twice while Grupp also had two hits. Hull allowed three hits and four walks before being lifted.

Grove City managed just four hits in the second game. Cuthbert scored on an Ott ground out in the first to give the Wolverines a quick 1-0 lead but Waynesburg tagged Cuthbert for three runs in the bottom of the first.

Trailing 4-1 in the top of the sixth, Grove City trimmed the lead to 4-3 as junior Michael McMillen (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegheny) doubled and scored on a Stedford single. Ott scored later in the inning after Jonathan Mycyk (Pittsburgh, Pa./Shady Side Academy) singled to right.

Waynesburg's Eric Holt put the win away in the bottom of the sixth, however, belting a three-run homer. He also earned the save in relief of starter Adam Sattler.

Cuthbert took the loss in his first start of the season. He allowed five earned runs in five innings. Senior John Jacobs (McDonald, Pa./West Allegheny) pitched one inning of relief.

Grove City hosts Washington and Jefferson Monday at 3 p.m. The Wolverines are currently third in the PAC with a 6-5 record. Bethany leads the conference at 9-1 while Washington and Jefferson is second at 6-2. Waynesburg sits fourth while Thiel (3-8) and Westminster (2-8) are trying to stay alive. Only the top four teams reach the tournament, which is held April 29-May 1 at the top seed's home field. 

Grove City needs to win one of its last four PAC games to clinch a berth. The Wolverines won the PAC in both 2001 and 2002. 

First Game Box Score            Second Game Box Score

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