W&J (30-11) earns the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA
Division III Tournament and finds out its regional site on Monday
at 10:00 am (brackets to be released on NCAA.com). The Presidents
earn a spot in the national tournament field for the fourth time
(2009, 2010, 2012, 2013) under 11th-year Head Coach Jeff Mountain,
who celebrated his 300th career victory one day after his 35th
birthday. Mountain has been the head coach for five of the
Presidents' nine PAC baseball titles.
The Presidents, who outscored three opponents in tournament play
by a 32-7 margin and only trailed for two of the 27 total innings,
got off to a quick start with three runs in the bottom of the first
inning. After the first three runners reached base, junior third
baseman Kyle McLain (East Amherst, N.Y./Canisius) beat out a
potential, inning-ending double play to plate senior second baseman
Scott Liller (Moon Twp., Pa./Moon). Junior designated hitter D.J.
Michalski (Canonsburg, Pa./Canon-McMillan), who ranks 19th in NCAA
Division III in on-base percentage, then scored on a wild pitch,
while McLain slid home safely on junior first baseman Tyler
Schultz's (Strongsville, Ohio/Strongsville) single.
Junior right fielder Josh Staniscia (Export, Pa./Franklin
Regional) ripped a two-out, two-run triple for a 5-0 lead in the
bottom of the second. The 13th triple of his career set a new
school record. Staniscia attempted to turn the triple into an
inside-the-park home run, but was tagged out by TMC catcher Brad
Popham.
The Saints (29-14), who will now hope to earn an at-large bid to
the NCAA Tournament, scored twice in the third and once more in the
fourth to narrow the deficit to 5-3.
Michalski, who reached base safely four times, raised the lead to
6-3 in the bottom of the sixth with a two-out single that scored
freshman shortstop Michael Ruffing (Brunswick, Ohio/St. Ignatius).
McLain roped a run-scoring, book-rule double in the seventh for a
four-run advantage, while Staniscia capped the scoring with a
single to score Michalski in the eighth.
Sophomore right hander Tyler Dean (Mars, Pa./Mars Area) worked six
innings and allowed three runs on eight hits (3 strikeouts). Junior
right-hander Mike Vizzini (Monroeville, Pa./Gateway) tossed three
innings of scoreless relief to record his third save of the
year.
Four different Presidents had multi-hit games led by junior
catcher Ronny Peirish's (Gibsonia, Pa./Pine-Richland) 3-for-5 day
at the plate (two doubles). Staniscia drove in three runs, while
Liller had two hits and scored twice.