The Grove City College baseball team will make its first-ever appearance in the Eastern College Athletic Conference Southern Championship Tournament Wednesday afternoon when the Wolverines (19-19) visit La Roche (21-17) in a quarterfinal round game at 3 p.m.
Grove City is the No. 3 seed in the six-team tournament and will be the designated home team for the game. La Roche received the sixth seed.
Grove City earned third place in the Presidents' Athletic Conference this year with an 11-7 league record. The Wolverines then went 1-2 in last weekend's PAC Championship Tournament, earning third place. La Roche took fourth during the regular season in Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference with a 13-7 conference mark. The Redhawks fell to Mount Aloysius in an AMCC preliminary tournament series in two games.
Wesley (Del.) is the top seed in the tournament and will host the semifinals and championship game Saturday. Neumann is the No. 2 seed and also received a bye into the semifinals. Wednesday's other quarterfinal game pits No. 5 Penn State Altoona at No. 4 Bethany.
Wesley will face the Bethany-Altoona winner at 9 a.m. Saturday in the semifinals. Neumann will play Grove City or La Roche at 12:30 p.m. Saturday in the other semifinal. The two semifinal winners will then play at 4 p.m. for the ECAC Championship.
Although Grove City has just two seniors on its 2010 roster, the Wolverines feature veterans at nearly every position. Junior catcher Marcus Magister (Allison Park, Pa./Hampton) led Grove City with seven home runs and 41 runs batted in this year while hitting .433. Magister also leads the team in slugging (.709), doubles (14) and total bases (95).
Senior first baseman Tyler Thompson (Lee, Maine/Lee Academy) ranks third on the squad with 33 runs batted in while junior infielder Andrew Patterson (Akron, Ohio/Cuyahoga Valley Christian) is second with 39 RBIs. Patterson is hitting .362 while splitting time between second base, shortstop and third base this year. Junior Scott Moran (Columbia, Md./Chapelgate Christian) took over as the starting shortstop early in the season and has scored a team-high 39 runs.
Junior left fielder Butch Kriger (Pittsburgh, Pa./Montour) is hitting .413 while also sporting a .503 on-base percentage. Junior Dan Quirk (Schuylerville, N.Y./Schuylerville) started 36 games in center field and hit .303 this year while freshman Josh Sacks (Columbia, Md./Chapelgate Christian) and sophomore Dan Perkins (Hudson, Ohio/Hudson) shared time in right field.
Sacks missed part of the season due to injury but is hitting .447 and has stolen a team-high 15 bases. Perkins has made 20 total starts between right field and DH and hit .292.
Grove City features a pair of veterans at the top of the rotation in senior Mike Herringshaw (Chardon, Ohio/Notre Dame Cathedral Latin) and junior Cory Metcalf (Ashland, Ohio/Ashland). Herringshaw owns a 9-4 record this year and is Grove City's all-time leader with 23 career victories. He has issued just 12 walks in 85 1/3 innings this year. Metcalf is 4-4 with one save in 14 total appearances, including 11 starts.
Junior Steve Stombaugh (Mount Lebanon, Pa./Mount Lebanon) leads Grove City's bullpen with 16 relief appearances.
Grove City defeated La Roche March 18 in Pittsburgh, 15-8. Freshman second baseman Zach Butler (Massillon, Ohio/Cuyahoga Valley Christian), sophomore third baseman Brandon Durbin (Zelienople, Pa./Seneca Valley), Kriger, Magister and Sacks all had three hits each in the win. Stombaugh picked up the win out of the bullpen that day.
Overall, the Wolverines are making their second all-time postseason appearance. In 2008, Grove City advanced to the NCAA Division III Championship Tournament and competed in the New York Regional in Auburn, N.Y.
Courtesy: Grove City Sports Information
