BEAVER FALLS, Pa. – The Geneva College baseball team received big days at the plate from senior Garrison Wieland (Sharpsville, Pa./Sharpsville) and sophomore Abram King (Washington, Pa./Trinity), and those two helped the Golden Tornadoes split a doubleheader with Franciscan on Saturday afternoon, dropping the first game, 9-4, before winning game two, 7-6. Geneva's record is now 11-20 overall, 6-18 in the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC), while Franciscan is 14-15 overall, 14-11 in the PAC.
Junior Marshall Wheeler (Butler, Pa./Butler) took the mound in game one, and Franciscan scored three times in the top of the second to give the Barons an early lead.
The Golden Tornadoes had multiple baserunners in each of the first three innings, but Geneva failed to convert those into any runs.
Franciscan doubled its lead if the fifth, scoring three more times and knocking Wheeler out of the game in the process. The Barons added a run in the seventh to go up 7-0.
The Geneva offense finally got going in the bottom of the eighth. King doubled, and Wieland drove him home with an RBI-single to start the rally. In fact, the first six batters reached base on four singles, a double and a hit batter. By that point the Golden Tornadoes had scored three times and still had the bases loaded with no outs. However, Geneva could only push one more run across in the inning, and Franciscan scored twice in the top of the ninth in closing out the game, 9-4.
Wheeler took the loss to move his record to 1-4 on the season, pitching 4.0 innings and giving up seven hits, six runs and five walks.
Both King and Wieland had three hits in the game, while senior Tyler Seliga (Belle Vernon, Pa./Belle Vernon), junior Alex Fee (New Castle, Pa./New Castle) and freshman David Toruno (Menifee, Cali./Paloma Valley) each added two hits apiece.
Sophomore Josiah Smith (Blooming Glen, Pa./Faith Christian Academy) got the start in game two, and an error on Franciscan's leadoff batter to start the game led to an unearned run for the Barons.
Geneva responded with two runs in the bottom of the first. Wieland hit an RBI-double to drive in King, and Wieland later came around to score on a wild pitch, giving the Golden Tornadoes an early 2-1 lead.
Franciscan tied the game in the top of the third with a run, but junior Adrian Tapia (Homestead, Fla./Keys Gate Charter) got that run back in the bottom of the inning, driving in Wieland with a single.
Franciscan scored twice more in the top of the fourth, knocking Smith out of the game in the process. However, the Golden Tornadoes once again responded in the bottom of the inning, scoring twice on an RBI-double from Fee and an RBI-single from King, regaining Geneva the lead, 5-4.
Freshman Juan Tejera (Homestead, Fla./South Dade) added one insurance run in the bottom of the fifth on a sacrifice fly, and sophomore Jeramie Hill (New Brighton, Pa./New Brighton) helped Geneva add one more run in the bottom of the sixth when his bid for a grand slam was caught up against the wall, with Hill settling for a sacrifice fly instead. That gave Geneva a 7-4 lead.
The Golden Tornadoes would end up needing every one of those runs, though, as Franciscan put together a rally in the top of the seventh, scoring twice against sophomore Austin Smith (Chardron, Ohio/Chardon), but Smith recorded the final out with the tying run on base to give Geneva the 7-6 victory.
Freshman Joshua Kearns (Akron, Ohio/Woodridge) pitched 2.1 innings of relief, giving up just two hits and a walk, to earn the win and move his record to 6-1 on the season. Smith got his first save of the year.
Offensively, King went 3-for-4 with a run and an RBI, while Wieland reached base all four times, going 2-for-2 with a walk, a hit-by-pitch, two runs and an RBI. Fee finished 1-for-3 with two runs scored and an RBI.
Geneva wraps up its season next week with a four-game series against Grove City, with the first doubleheader scheduled at home on Thursday beginning at 2:00 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 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 has one of the top 100 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. Geneva was founded and is governed by the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America (RPCNA) and is a founding member of both the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU) and IACE (International Association for Christian Education).
