GETTYSBURG, Pa. — It was a win-win for Washington and Gettysburg on Sunday, the final day of the regular season, as a split in a Centennial Conference baseball doubleheader clinched a berth for both schools in the postseason tournament that begins Tuesday.
Washington, playoff-bound for the first time for fourth-year head coach Tom Fiala ’14, is the third seed and will travel to No. 2 seed McDaniel [11-7 CC, 28-12] on Thursday, April 30. Game time is 3 p.m.
The Shoremen [10-8 CC, 22-18] extended their season with a 6-1 victory in game one at Kirchhoff Field.
The host Bullets [9-9 CC, 26-12] won the nightcap, 8-5.
Gettysburg scored the final five runs of the second game to earn the final spot in the five-team Centennial Conference tournament.
Ethan Mitnick slammed the door for the Bullets, striking out two and not allowing a hit over the final three innings for his fifth save.
Dominick Balsamo provided the insurance with a two-run home run in the seventh inning as part of his three-hit, four-RBI outing.
Freshman outfielder Brett Connolly was 4-for-4 with four runs scored to lead Washington in the opener.
Michael Lewis [5-1], a junior transfer from conference rival Swarthmore, struck out a career-high 10 batters in seven innings in Washington’s game one win. He scattered four hits and one walk.
Elias Philiposian posted his seventh save of the season. He pitched two innings of scoreless relief. His line included one hit, no walks and three strikeouts.
Connolly, Chase Ruppel [3-for-4, two runs] and Reese Hirsh [2-for-3] singled in succession with one away before a bases-loaded walk to Alex Dardaris staked Washington to a 1-0 lead in game one.
G’burg got that run back for a 1-1 tie after the first inning.
In the third inning, the Shoremen used back-to-back singles from Connolly and Ruppel and a fielding error on a bunt attempt by Hirsh to load the bases before an error on an attempted double play turn restored their lead for good, 2-1.
Singles from Connolly and Hirsh before a groundout and wild pitch made it 3-1 in the fifth.
Connolly homered with one out in the seventh to extend the spread to 4-1.
Two walks, an error, a sacrifice fly and a Dardaris single produced two more runs to finish the scoring in the ninth.
In game two, Washington’s Drew Kinsey led off with a single before back-to-back groundouts moved him to third and a Wyatt Uhde single to left once again staked the visiting team to a 1-0 lead.
Walks to Robert Murphy and Mike Coleman before a Jack Amirata single tied the game at 1-all and forced an early pitching change.
After a hit batter, Dominick Balsamo singled to left to make it 2-1 and Will Roche was hit by a pitch to force in a third run.
Washington regained the lead, 4-3, in the top of the second inning after Tahir Parker singled to center to lead off and Kinsey and Connolly homered back to back to opposite fields with one away.
Ty Everitt’s two-out double plated Uhde [double] to stretch Washington’s lead to 5-3.
In the home half of the fifth, Amirata led off with an extra-base hit before an error put runners at the corners. Designated hitter Balsamo [3-for-4, four RBI] then poked a double down the right field line to make it 5-4. Brayden Casas’ pinch-hit, groundout scored Will Stellato to level the score at 5-all.
Balsamo scored what held up as the winning run on Brendan Laqui’s groundout.
In the seventh, Amirata [3-for-4, three runs] led off with a single and scored on Balsamo’s one-out blast that easily cleared the right field fence for an 8-5 advantage.
Washington got the tying run to the dish in the top of the eighth with nobody out when Parker was hit by a pitch and Ty Powell walked, but a double play and an infield fly kept Gettysburg’s lead at three runs.
In the ninth, Ruppel reached on a fielding error to lead off, but the next three Shoremen were retired in order on a fly ball to center field and two strikeouts to end the game.
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Gettysburg returns to action Tuesday, April 28 at No. 4 seed Ursinus [9-9 CC, 22-16-1] in the single-elimination game of the Centennial Conference tournament.
The winner plays at No. 1 seed and three-time defending conference champion Johns Hopkins [13-5 CC, 30-9] on Thursday.
Washington is making its fourth appearance in the Centennial Conference tournament, previously qualifying in 2010 and 2012 under skipper Al Streelman and in 2022 in Cory Beddick’s final season in Chestertown.
Current head coach Tom Fiala was a sophomore pitcher on the Shoremen’s 2012 squad that won a program-record 28 games and reached the conference championship game.
