BEAVER FALLS, Pa. – The Geneva College baseball team tried to stage a late comeback against Bethany on Wednesday at home, but the Golden Tornadoes came up a little bit short in the 6-4 loss to the Bison. Bethany improved to 23-11, 13-8 in the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC), while Geneva fell to 6-22, 1-17 in the PAC.
Bethany scored twice in the top of the second against freshman starter
Marshall Wheeler (Butler, Pa./Butler) to open the scoring. Geneva's offense wasn't able to do much early against Bethany's starter Nick Gross.
The Bison pushed another run across in the top of the fifth, and then knocked Wheeler out of the game in the top of the sixth, scoring three times against Wheeler and freshman reliever
Angel Padron (Pembroke Pines, Fla./Pembroke Pines Charter) to take a 6-0 lead.
Geneva finally got to Gross in the bottom the sixth, answering back for three runs of its own. Freshman
Alex Fee (New Castle, Pa./New Castle) drove home two with a single with two outs, and freshman
Austin Willis (Temecula, Cali./Linfield Christian) followed Fee with an RBI-single of his own to cut Bethany's lead in half, 6-3.
The Golden Tornadoes scored again in the bottom of the eighth on an RBI-groundout from Willis, but Geneva left a runner stranded at third and could not get any closer in the ninth, losing 6-4.
Wheeler took the loss, pitching 5.1 innings and giving up eight hits and five runs, while striking out four. Sophomore
Dillon Bickerton (Salem, Ohio/Salem) led the offense, going 2-for-3 with two runs. Fee and Willis both finished 1-for-4 with two RBIs.
Geneva is scheduled to play a home non-conference game against Penn State New Kensington tomorrow at 4:00 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.
