CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa -- The Washington & Jefferson College baseball team defeated Webster University, 3-2, in an elimination game to continue play at the 2019 NCAA Division III College World Series at Perfect Game Field at Veterans Memorial Stadium in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
 
After today's game, the Presidents' 50th of the season, W&J holds a 38-12 overall record. The Gorloks, on the other hand, end their fantastic season with a 37-13.
 
With the victory, the Presidents advance on in bracket one and will play the loser of today's matchup between No. 6 Chapman and No. 23 UMass Boston. This elimination contest will take place tomorrow morning with first pitched scheduled for 10 a.m. CT/11 a.m. ET.
 
The Presidents got on the scoreboard first with two runs in the bottom of the first inning. W&J began the frame with a walk by Dante Dalesandro (Pittsburgh, Pa./Mount Lebanon) and a single by Mullen Socha (Independence, Ohio/St. Ignatius). Adam Moore (Olean, N.Y./Archbishop Walsh) then stepped to the plate and slapped a single to right center, plating both runners.
 
For the second straight inning, a leadoff walk led to runs, as Justin Griffin (Lombard, Ill./Glenbard East) put W&J up 3-2 in the top of the second. The senior catcher drew a five-pitch walk and then moved to second and third on consecutive outs. Griffin scored on an error by the opposing catcher when he threw the ball into left field on a pickoff attempt.  
 
From that point, the pitching took over, as neither team scored a run after the second inning. After a tough second, Nick Drake (Canonsburg, Pa./Canon-McMillan) locked up the Gorloks with two earned runs allowed on eight hits. The sophomore also tallied two strikeouts to improve to 5-2 overall this season, 2-0 in the postseason.
 
Michael Zito (Nashville, Tenn./Hume-Fogg) entered next and gave up no runs in 1.2 innings. The sophomore fanned one and allowed just one hit.
 
Clay Martin (Canonsburg, Pa./Canon-McMillan) entered in the eighth and earned the save with 2.0 scoreless innings pitched. With the save, Martin tied the program record for career saves with 13, while locking down his 12th save of 2019. 
 
Socha paced the Presidents offense with two hits today, giving the senior second baseman 150 in his illustrious career. He is also now tied for fifth on W&J's all-time runs leaderboard with 132.
 
Moore's lone hit of the day went down as the team's biggest, as his two-out, two-RBI single gave the Red & Black an early lead. Griffin also finished with one single to round out the Presidents' hitters on the day.