In the 2008 Presidents’ Athletic Conference Baseball Championship Tournament, the last shall be first.

Just six days after earning the last of four available berths in the PAC Tournament, the Grove City College baseball team captured its third conference title since 2001 by earning a pair of victories over Mercer County rival Thiel Saturday at the University of Cincinnati’s Marge Schott Stadium.

Grove City also won PAC titles in 2001 and 2002. The Wolverines also went 3-0 in the PAC Tournament in those two seasons. In 2002, Grove City defeated Thiel twice en route to the conference title.

By winning the conference title, Grove City also receives the PAC’s first-ever automatic invitation to the NCAA Championship Tournament.

The Wolverines will play in the New York Regional, hosted by Ithaca College in Auburn, N.Y.

Grove City (18-16 overall) is the No. 8 seed in the eight-team, double-elimination bracket and will play top-seeded Cortland State (36-3) in the quarterfinals today at 1:15 p.m. at Falcon Field.

This is the first season that the PAC champion has received an automatic berth in the NCAA Baseball Championship Tournament. Grove City is the first PAC school since 1984 to participate in the regionals. That year, John Carroll went 0-2 in the Mideast Regional.

While Grove City is making its first postseason appearance of any kind in baseball, the same cannot be said for Cortland State. The Red Dragons won their fourth straight State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) title May 4 with a 12-5 win over Brockport State. Cortland State is making its 16th straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament. That is the longest active streak in NCAA Division III.

Cortland State is currently ranked second in the country by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers of America and D3Baseball.com. The Red Dragons are the No. 1 team in the New York Region.

The double-elimination tournament continues through Saturday. If a second championship game is needed, it would be played Sunday at 1 p.m.

ä GCC 11, Thiel 10 — At the University of Cincinnati’s Marge Schott Stadium,

PACMVP Brian Moran drove in Butch Kriger and Tyler Thompson with a game-winning two-run single.

Matt Tindall earned the win after throwing 22/3 innings of relief.

Moran went 4 for 6 with six RBI in the title game while Kriger also had four hits, including a double. Brad Stombaugh added a triple for Grove City.

Chris Bowser started and pitched into the sixth for Grove City. He allowed four earned runs and four hits in five innings. Chip Hasek pitched in relief before yielding to Tindall.