GREENVILLE, Pa. -- The Washington & Jefferson College baseball team earned a pair of wins Saturday afternoon at Thiel College. W&J claimed game one by a 9-5 tally and game two by an 8-4 score.
W&J advances to 28-7 overall and 21-1 in conference play while Thiel falls to 14-21 overall and 10-13 in the league.
Game One - W&J 9, Thiel 5
W&J scored the first nine runs in the opener, which included four runs in the top of the first inning.
The Presidents first inning would include two home runs. Evan Sante (Pittsburgh, Pa./Plum) would launch a ball over the left field fence, plating Peter Kalinski(Washington, D.C./Saint John's College), who reached base one batter earlier by drawing a walk.
Scout Zaas (Powell, Ohio/Wellington School) recorded a double following Sante's PAC-leading 10th home run of the season. Roman Samson (Tampa, Fla./Berkley Prep) then sent a pitch over the left field fenec for another two-run homer.
W&J would add four more runs in the top of the third. Sante and Samson opened off the inning with two walks before Joe Lehner (Painesville, Ohio/Lake Catholic) would load the bases with his single to right field. Setting Sante up to eventually score on a wild pitch.
Jason Gregovits (Avon Lake, Ohio/Avon Lake) would plate the team's sixth run with an RBI single. Tyler Horvat(Irwin, Pa./ Penn Trafford) was hit with the bases loaded to bring home a seventh run. Nate Rush (Wheeling, W.VA./The Linsly School) would plate the final run of the inning to expand the Presidents lead over the Tomcats to eight.
Horvat recorded an RBI triple in the fifth inning to make the score 9-0.
Thiel would end the Presidents shut out in the sixth inning by scoring three runs and adding two more runs in the seventh to end the game, 9-5.
Henry Litman (Marietta, Ga./Walton) improves to 6-2 on the mound after pitching 6.0 innings and allowing three runs off five hits while striking out four. Gregovits recorded a three-of-three effort at the plate while Lehner and Samson recorded multi-hit efforts in game one.
Game Two - W&J 8, Thiel 4
W&J would have another early rally in game two that the Tomcats could never recover from. The Presidents recorded its third four-run inning of the day.
Sante and Samson opened the inning with back-to-back singles. Sante then scored on a throwing error as Thiel tried to complete a double play. Dan Beistel (Canfield, Ohio/Canfield), Gregovits and Rush would all record RBI in the inning as W&J tacked on three more runs.
Thiel would respond with one run in the second before W&J would score again in the sixth off a John Klein (Vienna, Va./Madison) RBI single. Leading 5-1 in the eighth, Samson connected with a two-run homer to help W&J add to its lead. The Tomcats scored three times in the bottom of the eighth to pull within three runs at 7-4. However, Trevor Dean (San Diego, Calif./Rancho Bernardo) would plate the final run for W&J. Dean laced an RBI single to center field to score Rush in the top of the ninth.
Horvat earned the victory in game two to improve to 6-1. He tossed seven innings and allowed just one run on three hits. Dante DiMatteo (Pittsburgh, Pa./Fox Chapel) recorded the final four outs to nail down his eighth save of the season.
Rush, Sante, Samson, and Klein would all record three hits as the Red and Black finished with 16 hits in game two.
W&J will look to complete the series sweep over Thiel tomorrow (May 1) at Ross Memorial Park. First pitch is slated for a 12 p.m. start time.