NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. – The Westminster baseball team won both games of its non-conference doubleheader home-opener against Pitt-Greensburg. The Titans won, 5-0, in game one and 11-1 in game two.
"It feels good," said head coach Pat Riley. "Anytime you can win at home, especially in the home-opener, that's a big deal. I was really happy with how we did on the mound and what we did defensively behind them. Situationally I think we did a nice job capitalizing on opportunities and driving guys in. Overall, it was a clean day of baseball."
In the third inning of game one, sophomore
Matthew Randza's (Beaver Falls, PA / Blackhawk) triple brought senior
Austin Webb (Wadsworth, OH / Wadsworth) in to score, followed by a sacrifice fly from senior
James Diamond (Moon Twp, PA / Moon Area), bringing in Randza, making it 4-0. On the mound, sophomore
Timothy Lewis (Southwest Harbor, ME / Wilmington Area) earned the complete-game win with a career-best five strikeouts.
In game two, Pitt-Greensburg (0-12) went up by one run in the first. In the second inning, Westminster (5-4) scored five runs, capped off by Webb's single to center field that batted-in seniors
Brandon Cooper (Oakdale, PA / West Allegheny) and
Matt Costello (New Castle, PA / Union Area), making it 5-1. First-year
Ryan Gibbons (Ellwood City, PA / Lincoln) notched his first win of his career with a career-high eight strikeouts.
The Titans were led by Cooper, who went a combined 2-for-5 with his first-career home run and a pair of runs-batted-in. Randza went 3-for-5 on the day with two triples and a run-batted-in. Webb went a combined 3-for-7 with a trifecta of runs-batted-in. Diamond went 2-for-4 in game two with a pair of runs-batted-in. First-year
Eric Efland (Delaware, OH / Olentangy) registered his first-career hit to right field during game two.
Westminster is back in action Saturday, March 26 at Chatham for a Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) doubleheader. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m.
