GREENVILLE, Pa. – The Geneva College baseball team opened its 2021 season with a doubleheader at Thiel College on Wednesday afternoon.  The offense, powered by senior Garrison Wieland (Sharpsville, Pa./Sharpsville), helped Geneva defeat Thiel in game one, 10-8.  The second game was suspended after seven innings due to darkness, with the Tomcats leading 12-3.  It will be completed on Saturday.  Geneva is now 1-0, while Thiel is 0-1, pending the completion of the second game.

The first inning of the season-opener couldn't have started much better for the Golden Tornadoes.  Wieland hit a two-run home run as part of a five-run first inning for Geneva.  Thiel had a response though, thanks to some wildness from junior starting pitcher Marshall Wheeler (Butler, Pa./Butler).  The Tomcats answered with three runs in their half of the inning despite only having an infield single in the frame.  Two walks, a hit batter and an error contributed greatly to the Thiel offense.

Neither team scored in the next two innings, and Thiel took its first lead in the bottom of the fourth with another big inning.  The first two batters reached on an error and walk, and the Tomcats converted that into four runs, knocking Wheeler out of the game in the process.  Thiel added a run in the bottom of the fifth to extend its lead to 8-5.

The Geneva offense finally got going again in the top of the sixth.  Sophomore Gabriel Morales (Homestead, Fla./South Dade) led off with a double, and after an out, sophomore Abram King (Washington, Pa./Trinity) crushed one over the left-centerfield wall for a two-run home run, pulling the Golden Tornadoes to within one, 8-7.  Wieland stepped up next and followed suit, driving one over the left field fence, his second homer of the day, to knot the score at 8-8.

Geneva's offense kept it going in the top of the seventh as well.  Senior Tyler Seliga (Belle Vernon, Pa./Belle Vernon) opened with a single, and junior Alex Fee (New Castle, Pa./New Castle) followed with a walk.  Both runners advanced on a sacrifice bunt, and Seliga came home to score on a wild pitch.  Morales followed with a line-drive single to score Fee to give the Golden Tornadoes a 10-8 lead, and Geneva closed out the win with a scoreless bottom of the seventh, with the game only scheduled for seven innings.

Freshman Joshua Kearns (Akron, Ohio/Woodridge) earned the win with a strong relief outing.  Kearns pitched the final 3.1 innings and gave up four hits and one run, while striking out three in his collegiate debut. 

Offensively, Wieland led the charge with a 3-for-5 effort at the plate, homering twice and driving in three runs.  Sophomore Alex McKay (Cochranton, Pa./Cochranton) also finished 3-for-5, while scoring a run.  Seliga was 2-for-3 with two runs scored, Morales 2-for-5 with a run and an RBI, freshman Donald Dungee (Virginia Beach, Va./Landstown) 2-for-4 with a run, while King added his two-run homer.

Things got out of hand quickly in the second game.  Thiel got to senior starter Dylan O'Rourke (Hutchinson, Pa./Yough) early.  The Tomcats homered twice in the first inning as Thiel scored five times.  In the second inning, the first four baserunners reached base, and before the inning was over, the Tomcats had knocked O'Rourke out of the game and scored five more times, taking a 10-0 lead.

Wieland homered again in the top of the sixth inning, his third of the day, to get Geneva on the board, as the Golden Tornadoes plated two runs in the inning.  Each team added single runs in the seventh before the game was suspended due to darkness, with Thiel leading 12-3.  The plan is to finish the remainder of the game on Saturday at 12:00 p.m. prior to the scheduled doubleheader between these two teams.

"It was obviously great just to be back playing again," said Head Coach Alan Sumner.  "It was really weird to start the season off with a conference game, but that's the way this season is going to be.  I thought our offense played pretty well today.  Obviously, Garrison had a big day, but we had a number of guys that played well.  I thought Marshall pitched solidly in the first game despite some control issues, and Josh was really good in relief.  Our defense has to improve, and I thought our intensity level in that second game was not where it needed to be, especially early when we let the game get away from us.  But overall I was really encouraged about our play today, especially considering it was the first day."

Geneva finishes its series with Thiel on Saturday at home.  The two teams will complete the second game at 12:00 p.m., and then the two squads will move into their scheduled doubleheader, set to begin around 1:00 p.m.  The first three games of the series will count in the conference standings, while the fourth game will be considered a non-conference affair.


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.