The Thomas College baseball team was able to come up with another doubleheader split on Thursday morning/afternoon in Auburndale, Florida against Grove City College.
In the first game, Anree Benitez and Derek Kane sparked the Terriers offense with four hits and three runs batted in combined as Thomas built a 5-1 lead after two innings to cruise past the Grove City College Wolverines 6-3.
Zach Mathieu and Joe Quinlan also drove in runs for Thomas. Connor Hope (1-0) got the win on the mound for the Terriers going four innings, allowing no hits, an earned run, five walks and two strikeouts. Nik Beeson picked up his first save of the year pitching 0.2 of an inning and striking out one batter.
In the second game, Grove City starter John Bini (1-0) was able to shut down the Terriers offense going seven strong innings to help the Wolverines get the split with a 4-1 win.
Bini only allowed seven hits and an earned run while striking out six and Shane Hammel had a pair of hits and a pair of runs driven in to help the Wolverines offense.
Thomas got their run off a Kane RBI single in the fifth. Mathieu and Aron Smestad had a pair of hits for the Terriers as well. Mike Confer (0-1) took the loss on the mound allowing three earned runs, on three hits, three walks, and two strikeouts in his 1.1 innings of work.
Thomas is now 3-5 on the season while Grove City is 11-5. Thomas will open up North Atlantic Conference league play this weekend at Winter Haven, Florida with four games against Castleton. The doubleheader action starts Saturday at 2 p.m. with another doubleheader Sunday beginning at noon.
