WASHINGTON, Pa. –
Tyler Horvat (Irwin, Pa./Penn Trafford) registered his program record breaking 29th career win by tossing 7.1 strong innings in an 8-4 win over Westminster in the opening game of the 2023 Presidents' Athletic Conference Tournament.
Horvat tossed 125 pitches over 7.1 innings of work. Horvat struck out two and walked just one. The win puts Horvat alone at the top of the W&J all-time wins list with 29. Horvat's effort Friday helped him surpass former standouts Eddie Nogay and Riley Groves. Horvat is 11-2 on the mound this season. The 11 wins is the most in NCAA Division III.
The win is the 10th straight for W&J in the PAC Tournament. The Presidents improve to 29-12 overall and will play in the winner's bracket final Friday against Grove City at 12 p.m. Westminster drops to 20-19 overall and will play Friday at 3 p.m. in an elimination game against Saint Vincent. Grove City rallied past Saint Vincent for a 6-5 win in Thursday's second game. The Wolverines scored four runs over the final three innings for the victory.
W&J scored in each of the first four innings. Eight Presidents recorded at least one hit while five Presidents registered multi-hit efforts in Thursday's tournament opener. Eight of the Presidents' hits came with two outs.
The game was a back-and-forth battle early on. Westminster used a one-out solo home run by Carter Chinn in the top of the first to gain the early lead. W&J was able to quickly strike back with a pair of runs in the bottom of the frame.
After a double play erased Horvat following a leadoff single, the Presidents used two-out magic to take a 2-1 advantage. RBI singles by
Scout Zaas (Powell, Ohio/Wellington School) and
Jacob LaDuca (Clarence, N.Y./Canisius) pushed the Presidents in front.
The Titans loaded the bases and scored two runs on two hits in the top of the second. Westminster regained the lead when Logan Murgenovich smacked a single to right field to make it 3-2 Titans.
W&J tallied a pair of runs in the bottom of the third inning.
Logan Scheider (McDonald, Pa./West Allegheny) singled and scored on a Westminster throwing error on a relay play following a double by
Nolan Lutz (McDonald, Pa./South Fayette) to tie the score at 3-3. A wild pitch by Westminster starter Jake Vitale scored Lutz to make it 4-3 Presidents.
The Presidents tallied solo scores in the third and fourth innings to build a 6-3 advantage. LaDuca led off the fourth with a single and scored on an RBI double to left by
Josh Dezenzo (Alliance, Ohio/Marlington). W&J plated another two-out run when
Evan Sante (Pittsburgh, Pa./Plum) tripled and scored on an RBI ground-rule double by Zaas. The Zaas double strengthened the W&J lead to 6-3 after four innings.
W&J tacked on a pair of insurance runs with two outs in the seventh. Scheider walked and moved to second on a sac bunt by Scheider. Scheider scored on a fielding error by the Titans. Sante then followed with a run-scoring double off the fence. Those runs gave W&J a five-run cushion entering the eighth.
While the Presidents offense remained at work, Horvat settled down after a tough first few innings. The senior right hander sat down 15 straight Titans. Horvat retired the final two Titans in the third inning before retiring the side in order in the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh innings.
Horvat retired the first Titan in the eighth before hitting Matthew Randza to end the streak. The Titans loaded the bases in the frame but settled for one run as
Ethan Boring (Ligonier, Pa./Ligonier Valley) entered from the W&J bullpen and limited the damage by retiring the next two Titans.
Dante DiMatteo (Pittsburgh, Pa./Fox Chapel) entered in the ninth and recorded the final out via strikeout to register his program record 14th save.
LaDuca led the Presidents with a three-hit day. Dezenzo, Horvat, Zaas and Sante recorded two-hit efforts in the victory.
On Deck: W&J will face second-seeded Grove City in the winner's bracket final Friday at 12 p.m. at Ross Memorial Park. The winner of that game advances to Saturday's title round. The loser will play again at 6 p.m. against the winner of the 3 p.m. game between Saint Vincent and Westminster.
