WASHINGTON, Pa. -- Tyler Horvat (Irwin, Pa./Penn-Trafford) and Nate Rush (Wheeling, W,Va./The Linsly School) combined to drive in four runs and Henry Litman(Marietta, Ga./Walton) struck out 10 in seven innings as the top-ranked W&J baseball team earned a 5-4 victory over third-ranked Grove City in the winner's bracket final Friday afternoon at Ross Memorial Park.
The win improves W&J to 34-8 overall and advances to the PAC Championship round for a 10th straight tournament, a streak that began in 2012. W&J will face Westminster in Saturday's Championship Round with a 12:30 p.m. start. Westminster must win to force a decisive game immediately following as W&J enters Saturday unbeaten.
Westminster claimed a pair of elimination games wins over Saint Vincent (8-2) and Grove City (10-7) to advance to Saturday.
Jason Gregovits (Avon Lake, Ohio/Avon Lake) singled, stole second and scored on a RBI ground-rule double to give W&J a 1-0 lead in the third inning. The Presidents scored three unearned runs in the top of the fifth to stretch the lead to 4-0. W&J tallied three consecutive RBI hits with two outs in the frame. An RBI double by Horvat scored Jacob LaDuca (Clarence, N.Y./Canisius) to make it 2-0. Rush followed with an RBI single to plate Horvat and Peter Kalinski(Washington, D.C./Saint John's College) ripped a run-scoring double that pushed Rush across home plate to make it 4-0.
The Wolverines answered with three runs of their own in the bottom of the fifth inning. Grove City, who had just one hit in the inning, took advantage of three hit batters and a walk in the inning as they trimmed the deficit to 4-3.
Grove City seemed poised to tie the score after a leadoff triple by Lucca Baccari opened the bottom of the eighth inning. However, W&J recorded the first out on a fly out to shallow center field. The Presidents brought on closer Dante DiMatteo (Pittsburgh, Pa./Fox Chapel) to attempt to record the final two outs. Kalinski and LaDuca combined to pick off Baccari, who wandered too far off of third base, in the game's most pivotal play.
"I would love to take credit for the play (by LaDuca) but it was just an instinctive play by our shortstop," said W&J head coach Jeff Mountain. "He is a son of a coach and made a great play."
W&J loaded the bases and tacked on an insurance run in the top of the ninth inning when Rush produced an RBI groundout. The Wolverines threatened in the ninth, as they put the tying run on base. A passed ball allowed Grove City to cut the W&J lead to 5-4 with two outs. DiMatteo was able to get Bubba Hamilton to ground out to end the game.
Gregovits and Horvat finished with two hits apiece to lead the offensive efforts. Litman allowed three runs on three hits as he improved to 8-2 overall with his seventh straight win. DiMatteo registered his PAC-leading 10th save of the season with 1.2 innings of relief.