PITTSBURGH, Pa. – The Westminster baseball team swept Chatham in a doubleheader on the road in its Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) opener Saturday night. The Titans won game one 14-7 and game two 18-17.
"The bats were really rolling today," said head coach Pat Riley. "We got a lot of different contributions in different situations. It's big to get off to a good start in conference play. I'm proud of the guys and how they competed through the elements."
Game one was highlighted by a triple from senior
Seth Schrader (Fredonia, NY / Fredonia) that brought in three runs that increased Westminster's (7-4, 2-0 PAC) lead to 7-0 in the top of the second. However, Chatham (6-5, 0-2 PAC) cut the Titans' lead to three (9-6) in the bottom of the second. In the top of the seventh, sophomore
Chase Tomko (Hermitage, PA / West Middlesex Area) batted-in classmate
Matthew Randza (Beaver Falls, PA / Blackhawk) to make it 14-6. Senior
Logan Minch (Grove City, PA / Grove City Area) earned the win with a game- and team-high five strikeouts.
In the eighth inning of second game, Westminster took its first lead of the game after senior
Matt Costello (New Castle, PA / Union Area) scored on an error (14-13). The Titans went on to score four more runs capped by Schrader's single that brought classmate
Austin Webb (Wadsworth, OH / Wadsworth) across home plate. On the mound, sophomore
Kolton Banfi (Harrisville, PA / Franklin Area) earned his first-career win with a pair of strikeouts. In relief, first-year
Dwight Parker (Youngstown, OH / Liberty) collected his first-career save with a game- and career-best four strikeouts.
Westminster was led by Schrader, who went a combined 8-for-10 with 12 runs-batted-in, he also registered a career-high seven runs-batted-in during game one. Sophomore
Logan Murgenovich (Aliquippa, PA / Central Valley) went 3-for-9 with a hat-trick of runs-batted-in on the day. Senior
James Diamond (Moon Twp, PA / Moon Area) went a combined 4-for-10 with a pair of runs-batted-in. Costello chipped in with four runs-batted-in on the day, while Webb finished with four runs-batted-in.
The Titans return to action Tuesday, March 29 as they host Grove City in a PAC doubleheader. First pitch is set for 1:30 p.m.
