GROVE CITY, Pa. - La Roche baseball and its opening day was spoiled by Grove City, as the Wolverines walked it off in the bottom of the ninth to steal a 6-5 win over the Redhawks.

Nothing was easy to come bythe first six innings of play, as it was La Roche breaking the scoreless tie in the top of the fifth, thank to an RBI double by junior Josh Dreyer, making it a 1-0 game.

That score stood until the bottom of the seventh, when Grove City hit the run column for three, behind a two RBI double and an RBI single to make it a 3-1 game.

Backs against the wall in the top of the ninth, the Redhawks came up huge with a four spot in the inning to take a 5-3 lead.

With the bases loaded and one out, sophomore Jared Hough pulled through with a two RBI single and with the benefit of a pair of Wolverine errors on the play, a third run crossed, giving La Roche a 4-3 lead.

Hough crossed the plate the next batter, scoring on a wild pitch and upped the Redhawks lead to 5-3 going into the bottom of the ninth.

What looked to be a bright opening day turned gloomy, as Grove City tied the game with a one out, two rbi double, then four batters later, with two outs, notched an RBI single to steal the victory, 6-5.

Graduate student Casey Jones was strong on the bump for La Roche, throwing 6.1 innings, allowing two runs, seven hits and struck out three.

Cameron Mauk pitched 0.2 innings of relief, allowing a run and two hits with a strikeout, while Jameson Rhodes allowed two runs, two hits, one walk and a strikeout in one inning, before Larry Biewalski closed out the game, tossing 0.2 innings, allowing a run, two hits, two walks and a single strikeout.

Offensively, the Redhawks could only muster three hits, with Dreyer, Hough and Dom Brncic each collecting a single hit on the day.

La Roche returns to action on Saturday, Feb. 24 for a doubleheader against Waynesburg. First pitch is slated for 12 p.m.