WASHINGTON, Pa. – The Washington & Jefferson College baseball team rolled to a 15-5 victory over visiting Muskingum University in non-conference play at Ross Memorial Park.
The Presidents tallied season highs in both runs (15) and hits (15) in the victory over the Muskies. All nine Presidents in the starting lineup recorded at least one hit and one RBI in the rout.
W&J opened the scoring with an RBI single by James Artale (Chagrin Falls, Ohio/Kenston) in the bottom of the first. The Presidents added another first inning run on an RBI groundout by Jackson Russell (Burke, Va./Robinson).
The Presidents opened things up with an eight spot in the second inning to extend the lead to 10-0. Dante Dalesandro (Pittsburgh, Pa./Mount Lebanon) doubled the lead with a two-run single to make the score 4-0.
After a sacrifice fly by Mullen Socha (Independence, Ohio/St. Ignatius) made the score 5-0, Spencer Howell (Oakwood, Ohio/Oakwood) and Michael Zito (Nashville, Tenn./Hume-Fogg) added RBI singles in the frame.
The Muskies broke up the shutout with a run in the top of fourth inning before seeing the Presidents tacked on two more runs in the bottom of the frame. Joey Bolick (Gibsonia, Pa./Pine-Richland) ripped a ground-rule double to plate Josh Crummer (Great Falls, Va./Flint Hill School) before Dalesandro added an RBI groundout to score Zito, extending the Presidents lead to 12-1.
Justin Griffin (Lombard, Ill./Glenbard East) tacked on an RBI single before Zito plated the final two Presidents runs with a single in the fifth inning. The Muskies closed the scoring with a run in the eighth and three runs in the ninth.
Tanner Gaerke (Plain City, Ohio/Jonathan Adler) picked up the win, allowing three hits over 5.0 innings of work on the mound. The senior struck out three and issued just one walk.
Artale finished with three hits, while Crummer, Griffin, Zito, Bolick and Howell each added two. Zito reached base all four times and tallied a team-best four RBI in the victory.
The win improves W&J to 5-7 overall while Muskingum falls to 4-10.
W&J opens Presidents' Athletic Conference play this weekend with three games against Thiel College. The Presidents travel to Greenville for a doubleheader on Saturday, March 23. First pitch is set for 1 p.m.