LATROBE, Pa. – The Geneva College baseball team was probably due for an off day after starting the season 16-3, and the Golden Tornadoes dropped both games in an afternoon doubleheader at Saint Vincent College. Geneva fell behind early in both games before battling back, yet the team was unable to pick up either win, losing 6-4 and 6-5. Geneva is now 16-5 overall, 5-3 in the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC), while Saint Vincent improved to 8-12 overall, 4-4 in the PAC.
In game one, sophomore starting pitcher Josh Grant had his first rough start of the year, as the Bearcats got to him for five runs over 1.2 innings to take a big early lead. Saint Vincent added a run in the third to take its biggest lead of the game, 6-0.
Geneva struggled to get much going offensively against Saint Vincent starter Matt Whittaker. The Golden Tornadoes managed to push a run across in the fourth, but they didn't get their first hit until the top of the sixth when senior Forrest Beighley hit a looping single to right.
Geneva finally got its offense going in eighth when it added two runs, but a key double play with the bases loaded prevented an even bigger inning. Then in the ninth, Geneva scored another run to make it 6-4, and the Golden Tornadoes had two on and two out when senior Joey Luciana hit a drive to deep left that was caught just in front of the wall to end the game.
Geneva managed just five hits in the game. Beighley and senior Vinny Howells each had two hits. Grant picked up his first loss of the season, moving his record to 4-1. Senior Anthony Demeo gave the Golden Tornadoes a lift in relief, going 4.1 innings and giving up just two hits and one run.
Game two saw Geneva fall into an early hole again as the Bearcats jumped to a 4-0 lead after four innings against senior starter Richie Rowe. Geneva finally got on the board with two runs in the top of the fifth, cutting the deficit to 4-2, though Saint Vincent scored another run in the bottom of the inning to make it 5-2.
Geneva put together its best inning of the afternoon in the sixth, scoring three runs, two of them on an two-run RBI single from junior Jericho Hilling. That evened the score at 5-5, and the Golden Tornadoes turned to their best pitcher, freshman Jacob Cardenas to hold the Bearcats at bay.
Cardenas pitched well, keeping Saint Vincent scoreless through his first three innings. Unfortunately, Geneva was not able to score again, and the Bearcats took advantage with a walk-off hit in the bottom of the ninth to give Saint Vincent the 6-5 victory.
Junior Josh Baptiste led the offense with three hits, while Beighley and Hilling each contributed two. Senior Tyler Pagaduan added two RBIs. Cardenas pitched 3.2 innings and gave up just three hits and one run, but he picked up his first loss of the season to move his record to 4-1.
Geneva will look to get back into the win column when it returns home to host Grove City on Saturday for a doubleheader starting at 1:00 p.m.
Geneva College is a Christ-centered academic community that provides a comprehensive education to equip students for faithful and fruitful service to God and neighbor. Offering over 80 traditional undergraduate majors and programs, fully online Adult Degree Programs, and high-demand graduate degrees, Geneva's programs are recognized for their high quality. U.S. News & World Report ranks Geneva as a Top Three Best Value Regional University with one of the Top 100 engineering programs in the nation. Adhering to the truth of Scripture, a Geneva education is grounded in God's Word as well as in a core curriculum designed to prepare students vocationally to think, write and communicate well in today's world.
