Baseball: Westminster Splits PAC Twinbill at No. 18 Thomas More

More news about: Westminster (Pa.)

CRESTVIEW HILLS, Ky. - In a Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) doubleheader pitting the two PAC teams with the most overall wins, the Westminster College baseball team split a doubleheader at No. 18-ranked Thomas More Sunday. Thomas More needed a walk-off home run to beat Westminster, 8-5, in the first game before the Titans came back to win the second game 12-8.

Westminster is now 18-5 on the season and 5-3 in the PAC, while the Saints, ranked No. 18 in the NCSBW/D3Baseball.com national poll, are now 19-4 overall and 9-3 in the PAC.

The Titans came back from a 5-1 deficit to tie the second game in the third inning and, after Thomas More retook the lead with two runs in the fourth inning, the Titans outscored the Saints 7-1 in the final three innings.

After junior second baseman Bud Main  led off the fifth inning with his second home run of the game and the season, junior first baseman Tim Wiand  hit an RBI double scoring sophomore outfielder Kyle Allen for the game-tying run. Then, with two outs, sophomore third baseman Chris Ross hit the go-ahead RBI double to score Wiand.

Main, who went 2-for-4 with a walk, also led off the game with a home run.

Senior outfield Rick DeBlasio, who singled in the fifth inning, led the Titans by going 4-for-4 with four RBI, falling a double shy of hitting for the cycle. His biggest hit was a three-run homer in the third inning that helped make up that 5-1 deficit.

Junior pitcher Patrick Mulligan tossed his fourth complete game of the season to improve to 6-0 in his fifth start and seventh appearance. Mulligan surrendered eight runs (6 earned) off nine hits and nine walks to go with four strikeouts.

In the first game, Westminster outhit the Saints 12-8 but Thomas More capitalized on six Titan errors and won the game on a three-run, walk-off home run by David Kennett.

Westminster led 4-1 in the first inning and could only tack on an additional run in the fourth inning that put the Titans up 5-2 before Thomas More posted three runs to tie the game in the sixth which set up Kennett's game-winner in the seventh.

Kennett finished the game 4-for-4 with six RBI.

DeBlasio, who finished the doubleheader with seven hits, was one of two Titans to go 3-for-4 in the first game. Sophomore shortstop Ty Miller also collected three hits.

Three pitchers took the mound for the Titans in the first game, with junior starter Justin Prejsnar giving up five runs on seven hits through 5 2/3 innings. Freshman reliever Ron Sullivan took the loss (3-2) as he pitched two outs in the seventh inning and his only hit, after two Saints reached base on errors, was Kennett's homer.

Westminster will stay in Kentucky until Monday to complete the game three-game series with a 2 p.m. nine-inning game.