GREENVILLE, Pa. – The Thiel College Tomcats used solid pitching and tied a season-high with 19 hits as they improved to 10-2 in Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) play with a 10-1 victory over the Bethany College Bison Monday.
The Tomcats improved to 17-10 overall, while Bethany fell to 5-17. With the win, Thiel swep5 the season series from the Bison, with the Tomcat pitching staff surrendering just 12 hits in the three wins over Bethany. Thiel has now won four straight games.
Three Tomcat pitchers limited the Bison to just one run on six hits, with Matt Elko allowing five hits over six innings with a walk and five strikeouts to earn the victory and improve to 3-1 on the season.
Offensively, Doug Farley, Eric Steininger, Nick Rossmiller and Trent Mosley each collected three hits as Thiel pounded out 19 hits for the contest, their second-straight game of registering double-digit hits, and 14th time this season. Farley went 3-for-5 with a home run, a run scored and three RBIs, while Rossmiller went 3-for-4 with his second home run of the season, a solo shot in the sixth.
Steininger went 3-for-5 with a run scored, and has now hit safely in 26 of the Tomcats 27 games. Mosley was 3-for-4 with two runs scored and a RBI.
Thiel jumped out to a lead with a run in the first. After an Eric King bunt single, Jarod Nanna caught two-out lightning and doubled down the left field line to give the Tomcats the early 1-0 advantage.
The game was then put out of reach in the fourth and fifth when the Tomcats plated four and three runs, respectively. In the fourth, Nick Schiavoni reached on an infield error to lead off the inning. Mosley followed with a single to left center, and Dan Koller drove in Schiavoni with a single through the left side. Farley then cleared the bases with his first home run of the season, a shot to left field that put Thiel up 5-0.
After Elko blanked the Bison in the top of the fifth, Rossmiller took the first pitch of the bottom of the fifth down the left field line and over the fence for a solo home run to put Thiel up 6-0. A Cody Trinch's RBI-groundout and a Koller sacrifice fly accounted for the two other Tomcat runs in the inning.
Thiel added two runs in the bottom of the eighth when Mosley walked with the bases loaded and freshman Josh Doody collected his first collegiate hit and RBI with a single up the middle.
The Bison finally got on the scoreboard in the ninth, as an error and a hit manufactured their first and only run of the contest.
The Tomcats will be back in action Tuesday when they take on Waynesburg University in a PAC doubleheader. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m.