WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Geneva College baseball team picked up two convincing wins at Gallaudet on Saturday to open up the season with a confidence-building day.  The Golden Tornadoes won the first game with a shutout, 11-0, and then cruised in the second game, 20-6.  Geneva is now 2-0, while Gallaudet fell to 2-5.

In the first game, Geneva got on the board with two runs early, with juniors Garrison Wieland (Sharpsville, Pa./Sharpsville) and Dillon Bickerton (Salem, Ohio/Salem) picking up RBIs in the first inning.

Another junior, starting pitcher Dylan O'Rourke (Hutchinson, Pa./Yough), got the nod on the hill for the opening game of the season, and O'Rourke put together a strong outing.  The two runs he got in the first inning proved to be all he needed, with the pitcher throwing five shutout innings while giving up just three hits.

The Golden Tornado offense provided more offense as the game went along, though.  Geneva added a run in the fourth, courtesy of a couple Bison errors, and Wieland led off the fifth with a double and came around to score on an RBI single from freshman Jarrett Orbin (New Springfield, Ohio/Springfield), making it 4-0.

Geneva broke things open in the top of the sixth, scoring seven times.  Wieland drove in two with another double, and then the Gallaudet pitchers ran into problems with their control.  At one point the Bison gave Geneva five straight baserunners, two on walks and three on hit-by-pitches.  The Golden Tornadoes easily closed out the final two innings of the seven-inning game, winning 11-0.

O'Rourke picked up the win with his sterling performance on the mound.  Weiland led the way at the plate, going 4-of-5 with three doubles, three RBIs and two runs scored.  Sophomore Marshall Wheeler (Butler, Pa./Butler) also had a good game at the plate, finishing 2-for-3 with a double, two runs and an RBI.  Geneva managed 10 hits in the game and were issued nine walks by the Bison pitchers.

In the second game of the day, Geneva scored twice in the first inning, with sophomore Alex Fee (New Castle, Pa./New Castle) opening with a double followed by a single by junior Tyler Seliga (Belle Vernon, Pa./Belle Vernon), and both would come around to score.

Sophomore Angel Padron (Pembroke Pines, Fla./Pembroke Pines Charter) got the start in the second game, and the Bison got to him in the first inning for three runs, giving Gallaudet its only lead of the day.  However, Geneva tied things up at 3-3 in the top of the second inning courtesy of a Bison error.

The Golden Tornadoes retook the lead in the top of the third inning, scoring four times after Wieland reached on an error to open the frame and Bickerton followed with a double to get the offense rolling.  Fee closed the inning with a triple to finish the scoring, giving Geneva a 7-3 lead.  Padron settled down after the first inning, quickly retiring Gallaudet in both the second and third innings.

Geneva scored four more times in the top of the fifth, which included three straight singles by freshman Austin Petraglia (Connellsville, Pa./Connellsville), Wieland and Bickerton.  The Golden Tornadoes then blew the game open with seven runs in the top of the fifth, helped by more shaky Bison defense and wild pitching by Gallaudet.  In fact, Bison pitchers walked six Golden Tornadoes in the inning, while the defense committed three errors.  Geneva closed out the win with two runs in the top of the seventh, winning the game 20-6.

Bickerton went 3-for-3 in the second game with a double, a run and two RBIs.  Fee went 3-for-4 with a double, two runs and an RBI.  Freshman Alex McKay (Cochranton, Pa./Cochranton) also contributed three hits, going 3-for-4 with a double, three runs and an RBI, while Petraglia was 1-for-5 with three runs and three RBIs.

"This was obviously a good way to open the season," said Head Coach Alan Sumner.  "Dylan gave us a great outing in the opening game, setting the tone for the afternoon.  We got offensive contributions from a lot of people today, especially our freshman, but it was our juniors that really led the way today.  This will give us some confidence as we head down to Florida over Spring Break next week."

Geneva will play nine times down south over Spring Break, beginning with two games against Hilbert next Saturday in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, before heading the rest of the way to Florida for seven games the following week.


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 145 traditional undergraduate majors and programs, fully online Adult Degree Programs and high-demand graduate degrees, Geneva's programs are recognized for their high quality. Geneva is included on Kiplinger's Personal Finance's "2019 Best College Values" list and has one of the top undergraduate engineering programs in the nation, according to U.S. News and World Report. 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.