NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. – The Westminster College baseball team split their doubleheader against Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) foe Bethany College at home on Sunday. The Titans dropped game one, 14-4, in a nine-inning game, before claiming game two by a score of 6-5 in walk-off fashion. The second game did not count towards the PAC standings.
In the first game, Bethany (10-10, 8-7 PAC) struck first with a run in the top of the first, but junior
Austin Webb (Wadsworth, OH / Wadsworth) scored off a Bethany error to tie the game in the bottom half at 1-1. Graduate student
Frank Cinicola (Cranberry Twp, PA / Seneca Valley) followed with an RBI-double to put the Titans out in front, 2-1, in the bottom of the first. Bethany responded with a run in the third to tie it back up, but Westminster (8-12, 5-10 PAC) added another run in the fifth courtesy of an RBI-single by junior
Dawson Porter (Kittanning, PA / Armstrong). The Bison scored nine runs in the seventh to put them ahead 12-3. The Titans scored one more run in the seventh, but Bethany held them off and went on to win 14-4.
Porter and first-year
Logan Murgenovich (Aliquippa, PA / Hopewell) each had two hits and one RBI in game one. Senior pitcher
Paul Midili (Spring Hill, FL / Bishop Mclaughlin Catholic) got the start for the Titans, pitching 4.1 innings, giving up three runs and striking out three.
In the nightcap, the Bison jumped on the board first with two runs in the top of the second. Westminster responded in the bottom half, as first-year
Chase Tomko (Hermitage, PA / West Middlesex Area) stroked an RBI-single to cut the Bison lead to 2-1. Tomko struck again in the bottom of the fourth with another RBI-single, followed by an RBI-groundout by junior
Logan Fordyce (Cuyahoga Falls, OH / Cuyahoga Falls) to give Westminster a 3-2 lead. The Bison answered with a three-run top of the seventh inning and led 5-3 heading into the bottom half. With one last chance to tie or win the game, the Titans got three of their first four runners on base and had the bases loaded with one out. Cinicola delivered a sacrifice fly to make it 5-4 with two outs. The Titans proceeded to draw back-to-back walks, with the second free pass scoring the tying-run. Westminster won the game on the next plate appearance, as Webb was hit by a pitch to score the winning run.
Tomko and first-year
Jayneil Latham (Pittsburgh, PA / Brentwood) paced Westminster with a pair of hits each, while Tomko and Fordyce each registered two RBIs. Sophomore
Joseph Kozlina (Cranberry Twp, PA / Seneca Valley) got the win in relief and five Titan pitchers tossed one scoreless inning, including junior
Zach Zeis (Gibsonia, PA / Pine-Richland), sophomore
Robert King (New Castle, PA / Union Area) and first-years
Timothy Lewis (Southwest Harbor, ME / Wilmington Area),
Blake Osness (Shoreham, NY / Shoreham-Wading River) and
Phillip Keller (Coraopolis, PA / Montour).
Westminster is back in on Thursday, April 15 when it travels to Grove City to take on the Wolverines in a road doubleheader. First pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m.
