GREENVILLE, Pa. — The Thiel College baseball team snapped the Washington and Jefferson Presidents' eight-game winning streak with a 5-4 come-from-behind victory in game one of a Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) doubleheader Saturday at Tomcat Park.
The win is the first for the Tomcats over W&J since April 28, 2011, when the Tomcats defeated W&J 6-5 in a nine-inning showdown.
W&J (16-6, 12-2) got on the board first, scoring two runs on three hits and taking advantage of a Tomcat error in the top of the second inning to stake an early 2-0 lead.
The Presidents added two more runs in the bottom of the third, on a two-out double by Tyler Schultz to push the W&J lead to 4-0.
The Tomcats (14-10, 8-2) finally got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the fourth, when Jarod Nanna (Johnstown, Pa./Conemaugh) was hit by a pitch. Senior Nick Rossmiller (Butler, Pa./Butler) scored Nanna four pitches later on a RBI-single down the left field line, cutting the President lead to 4-1.
After both teams were held at bay for the next two innings, the Tomcats exploded for a big inning in the bottom of the sixth. Nanna led things off with a single, and Rossmiller followed with an infield single of his own. After Nick Schiavoni flew out to center, Trent Mosley (South Euclid, Ohio/Brush) walked to load the bases for shortstop Cody Trinch (Franklin, Pa./Franklin). Trinch didn't disappoint, drilling a 1-1 pitch down the left field line for a two-run double, trimming the President lead to 4-3.
With one out in the sixth, Coach Joe Schaly pinch-hit freshman Trent Smith (Franklin, Pa./Franklin) for his starting catcher, Dan Koller (Euclid, Ohio/Lake Catholic). The move paid off, as Smith took the first pitch he saw to center for a two-run single to give the Tomcats their first lead of the contest.
Cody Northcott (Cochranton, Pa./Cochranton) shut down the Presidents in the top of the seventh, and Thiel took the contest 5-4.
Northcott improves to 5-3 on the mound, throwing a 96-pitch, seven-inning complete game in which he allowed three earned runs on nine hits and striking out one.
Offensively, Rossmiller went a perfect 3-for-3 at the plate, scoring a run and adding an RBI while Doug Farley (Linesville, Pa./Linesville) went 2-for-4.
The Tomcats look to take two-of-three from the Presidents, with the second game of the doubleheader scheduled to get underway at 3:30 p.m.