MUNHALL, Pa. - On Saturday, Chatham baseball hosted the visiting Grove City Wolverines with a chance to clinch the program's first ever playoff birth. Going into the day, Chatham would have to match Westminster's results versus Bethany in order to reach the PAC playoffs. Westminster swept Bethany, meaning the Cougars had to sweep the Wolverines in order to clinch a playoff spot. Grove City got the best of the Cougars in both games, winning game one 8-1 and game two 4-2 to be the first PAC team to miss out on the playoffs.

In game one, Wolverine starter Nick Guidas and Cougar starter Junior Carter Beneigh kept the game scoreless through three innings of play. Grove City finally made Beneigh work as they scored two in the fourth, one in the fifth, two in the sixth, and three in the seventh to lead 8-0. The Cougars scored their only run of the contest in the bottom half of the seventh. After leading off with an infield single, stealing second, and advancing to third base on a wild pitch, Freshman Brandon Bell scored on a sac fly off the bat of Freshman Eli Kelley. Neither teams scored in the final two frames, making the game one final 8-1 in favor of the Wolverines. 

Beneigh ends his first season as a Cougar with a record of 5-4. He collected a program-high 62.1 innings and 58 strikeouts, and finished the season with an ERA of 3.32.

Chatham had five hits in game one. Two each from Sophomore Peter Tadic and Freshman Brandon Bell. The other hit came from Senior Frankie DeLuca. 

Wolverine starter Guidas threw 6 scoreless, scattering 3 hits, and 6 strikeouts. 

In game two, Grove City brought around three of their four runs in the opening inning. The Cougars were able to respond and get one of those runs back in the first. Sophomore Angelo DeLeonardis led the inning off with a double. Next batter Benny Dottle grounded out to the right side to move DeLeonardis to third. Three hitter Peter Tadic would proceed to score DeLeonardis with a sac fly to center field. The game stayed at 3-1 until the ninth and final inning. The Wolverines scored an insurance run to extend the lead to 4-1. In the bottom half of the ninth, Freshman Nolan Boehm's double to left center score designated hitter Sophomore Caleb Jones. The Cougars continued to threaten, but were unable to push the tying run across. 

Junior Dawson Morrow came out of the bullpen in this one for the Cougars. Morrow lasted 8.1 innings, gave up 6 hits, one run, five walks, and five strikeouts. With the impressive outing, Morrow wraps up his 2024 campaign as the program's all-time strikeout leader and had a team-low ERA of 3.09. He threw 46.2 innings which is second on the team behind his fellow high school and college teammate Carter Beneigh. Both of them are expected to return for their senior seasons, where they will look to help continue the program's recent success. 

Baseball wraps up the 2024 season with an overall record of 18-21 (9-11). With 18 wins this year, the Cougars fell just short of their program record 19 wins last year. In just his third year as the Head Coach, Nic Rush has now coached both of the teams that recorded 18 and 19 wins, which are top two in program history for wins in a season.

We wish our seniors Frankie DeLuca, Benny Dottle, Dom Costellic, Mason Schwartz, and Dylan Vogel the best of luck in their future endeavors. 

#RollCougs