WASHINGTON, Pa. -- The Washington & Jefferson baseball team tallied a season-best 17 runs to defeat Thiel, 17-5, in the two teams' Presidents' Athletic Conference opener on Saturday afternoon at Ross Memorial Park. 

The victory propels the Presidents to 6-7 overall and 1-0 in conference play, while the Tomcats drop to 4-9.  

James Artale (Chagrin Falls, Ohio/Kenston) started the fireworks off early, slamming a two-run homer over the right field wall to put W&J up 2-0 in the top of the first. The home run is the first of Artale's senior season and the sixth of his career. 

After Thiel tied things up at two in the top of the second, the Red & Black retook the lead by scoring three runs in the bottom of the frame. Following a leadoff double by Josh Crummer (Great Falls, Va./Flint Hill School), the first of a career-high four hits for the senior, Joey Bolick (Gibsonia, Pa./Pine-Richland) put W&J up 3-2 with a single through the right side. 

A sacrifice fly and a throwing error in the next two at-bats gave the Red & Black a 5-2 advantage heading into the third frame. 

The Tomcats did not go away quietly, however, as they scored one run in both the fourth and fifth innings to draw the Presidents' lead to one, 5-4. 

It was in the bottom of the sixth that the game was blown wide open, as W&J plated 12 runners in the frame to take a 17-4 lead. After posting an out on the second batter of the inning, the Red & Black had 13 straight hitters reach base. This stretch featured nine consecutive hits, four off the NCAA Division III record. 

In the frame, the Presidents logged four doubles, seven singles, two hit batters and one walk. Dante Dalesandro(Pittsburgh, Pa./Mount Lebanon) had three RBI in the inning, while Crummer and Michael Zito (Nashville, Tenn./Hume-Fogg) both tallied two hits. 

For the Presidents' pitchers, Ben Marsico (Bradford Woods, Pa./North Allegheny) started and went 5.2 innings with four strikeouts and four runs allowed. Today's win is the junior's team-best second of the year. 

Mitchell Taufer (Washington, Pa./Bishop Canevin), Henry Litman (Marietta, Ga./Walton) and Josh Palma(Canonsburg, Pa./Canon-McMillan) combined to record 2.1 scoreless innings of relief, with each getting at least one strikeout. 

Today's run total is the highest by the Red & Black since they defeated Thiel by a 19-2 final score on Senior Day of the 2017 season (May 6). W&J also finished today's bout with season-high totals in hits (16), RBI (16) and doubles (6).

The Presidents will be right back on the field tomorrow afternoon, when they wrap up their regular-season series against Thiel with a road doubleheader. The first of the two games is slated to start at 1 p.m.