W&J improves to 7-1 in PAC with Saturday sweep of Chatham

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MUNHALL, Pa. -- The Washington & Jefferson College baseball team had all three facets of the game working Saturday in a Presidents' Athletic Conference doubleheader sweep of Chatham University at West Field. The Presidents boasted timely hitting, stellar pitching and strong defense in the sweep of the Cougars. 

W&J improves to 7-1 in PAC play and 16-9 overall. Chatham falls to 11-11 overall and 4-4 in conference games.

Game One - W&J 7, Chatham 0 

Three pitchers combined to pitch a shutout for the Presidents in the opener. Ethan Marszalek (Katy, Texas/Sevan Lakes), Nate Nolan(McDonald, Pa./West Allegheny) and Mason Kolbe (Bradenton, Fla./Out-Of-Door Academy) combined to strike out 10 and scatted six hits in the game one win.

Marszalek limited the Cougars to two hits and struck out a pair in three innings.

Nolan then tossed four scoreless innings to move his record to 3-0. Nolan struck out five and allowed four hits over the middle innings.

Kolbe then finished off the victory with two scoreless frames. The senior struck out a pair and allowed no hits over the final two innings. 

W&J provided plenty of support offensively for the three hurlers. A sac fly by Trevor Dean (San Diego, Calif. / Rancho Bernardo) gave the Red and Black an early 1-0 lead. 

The Presidents used an RBI triple by Tyler Horvat (Irwin, Pa./Penn Trafford) and a sac fly by Jacob LaDuca (Clarence, N.Y./Canisius) to push the lead to 3-0 in the fifth. 

W&J added two more runs in the seventh when Nolan Lutz (McDonald, Pa./South Fayette) recorded a sac fly and Dean followed with an RBI double that made it 5-0. 

Lutz and Dean added RBI doubles in the ninth to put the game out of reach at 7-0. 

Lutz finished game one with a 3-for-3 effort at the plate. Dean added two hits and three RBI. Horvat and Logan Scheider (McDonald, Pa./West Allegheny) added multi-hit efforts.

Game Two - W&J 10, Chatham 3 

A pair of seniors guided the way for the Presidents in the nightcap. Evan Sante (Pittsburgh, Pa./Plum) and Horvat helped the Presidents to their third conference sweep of the season. 

Sante finished with a 4-for-4 effort with four RBI and two runs scored. 

Horvat was once again a major factor in a Presidents win. The senior standout struck out 10 Cougars over eight strong innings of work. Horvat improved to 7-2 this season and now holds a sparkling 25-3 record in his collegiate career. 

W&J scored three times in the top half of the opening inning. Dean continued his hot streak with a two-run double to open the scoring. Sante followed with a RBI double that plated Dean to make it 3-0. 

Sante tacked on two more runs with a two-run double in the third. That hit swelled the W&J lead to 5-0. 

The Presidents entered the eighth inning with a 6-2 lead but added on four insurance runs over the final two innings. Horvat and Sante added run-scoring hits over the final two frames. 

Dante DiMatteo (Pittsburgh, Pa./Fox Chapel) tossed a scoreless ninth to wrap up the win. 

Sante, Dean and Horvat all finished with multi-hit games. 

On Deck: W&J heads to Franciscan University of Steubenville for a conference doubleheader on Wednesday, April 12. First pitch is set for 1 p.m.