NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. – The Westminster baseball team extended its winning-streak to seven games and remained undefeated in the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) following a 3-0 shutout over Chatham at home Wednesday.
"We came up with a big hit at the right time," said head coach Pat Riley. "It was a grind-it-out game.
Jake Vitale did a great job on the mound for us and gave us an opportunity.
Frankie Manios came in and shut the door. Overall, it wasn't pretty. We left a lot of guys on base, but they played well. We just capitalized on different opportunities and fortunately walked out with a win."
After five scoreless innings, Westminster (10-4, 5-0 PAC) scored the first run of the game off a sacrifice fly by senior
Matt Costello (New Castle, PA / Union Area), bringing home sophomore
Carter Chinn (Grove City, PA / Grove City).
The Titans added insurance in the seventh inning courtesy of an RBI-triple by senior
James Diamond (Moon Twp, PA / Moon Area) and an RBI-single by sophomore
Matthew Randza (Beaver Falls, PA / Blackhawk).
First-year pitcher
Jake Vitale (New Castle, PA / Union) (1-1) threw eight scoreless innings and struck out six, earning his first collegiate win. Junior
Frankie Manios (Warren, OH / Howland) earned his first save of the season with a one-two-three ninth inning, including a strikeout.
"I tested my fastball, they are a good hitting team," said Vitale. "They came battling last Saturday when we played them down at their place, got them twice. Our hitters hit the ball for us and put runs up on the board. Without them, I would not have been able to win and neither would have the team."
"Feels great, feels great to get a conference win," Vitale added when asked how it felt to get his first collegiate win. "First one of the year, looking for many more."
The Titans are back on the diamond Saturday, April 2 with a PAC doubleheader at Franciscan. First pitch is set for 1 p.m.
