WINTER HAVEN, Fla. -- Freshman Tyler Horvat (Irwin, Pa./Penn Trafford) tossed eight shutout innings in his first collegiate start as the Washington & Jefferson College baseball team shut out No. 6 Washington University of St. Louis by an 8-0 score Tuesday evening. 
 
Horvat allowed just five hits in the eight shutout innings. The right-hander struck out four and walked just two.

The Presidents used timely hitting, outstanding pitching and strong defense to pick up W&J's first win over a ranked opponent in 2020. The Red and Black plated all eight runs in the third, fourth and fifth innings and held WashU at bay the rest of the way.  
 
Horvat worked out of a jam in the second inning as the Bears placed runners on first and second base with one out. Horvat coaxed a ground ball to third base and a flyout to center field and the game remained scoreless.
 
Evan Sante (Pittsburgh, Pa./Plum) led off the top of the third with a ground ball down the left field line and cruised into second with a double. Adam Morris (South Park, Pa./South Park) poked a single through the right side and with runners on the corners, Washington's pitcher balked to bring home the Presidents' first run.
 
After Horvat retired the Bears in order in the bottom of the third, W&J ripped four-consecutive singles to begin the fourth inning. Peter Kalinski (Washington, D.C./St. John's College), Nick Guercio (Cabot, Pa./Knoch), Adam Moore(Olean, N.Y./Archbishop Walsh) and Michael Zito (Nashville, Tenn./Hume-Fogg) all smacked base knocks, with Zito's plating Kalinski and Guercio. A sacrifice fly by Sante scored Zito and the Presidents led 4-0 after four innings.
 
The President offense wasn't done as W&J cashed in for four more run in the top of the fifth. Guercio batted in Nate Rush (Wheeling, W.Va./The Linsly School), Zito smacked another two-run single to bring home Guercio and Kalinski and a wild pitch scored Moore.
 
WashU threatened W&J's 8-0 lead in the fifth inning as the Bears begin the frame with back-to-back base hits. Horvat struck out John Ostrander and finished the inning by feeding a comebacker to second baseman Joey Bolick(Gibsonia, Pa./Pine-Richland) who whipped a throw to first for an inning-ending double play.
 
The Bears had their leadoff man single to begin the sixth inning, but Horvat posted struck out back-to-back WashU batters and escaped the inning after a walk with a flyout to center.
 
Morris had a sliding catch in the left-center field gap to begin the home half of the eighth inning. Sante made a running catch toward the foul line and Morris tracked down another ball to close out the frame.
 
WashU went down in order in the eighth thanks to a nifty backhand play by Bolick and Horvat struck the Bear's cleanup batter John Brinkman for the second time in the contest to cap the inning.
 
Robby Heberle (Georgetown, Pa. / South Side Beaver) relieved Horvat for the ninth. The Bears loaded the bases in the ninth, but Heberle preserved the shutout with a pair of K's and a flyout to center.
 
The Presidents offense busted out eight runs on 13 hits. Twelve of the 13 hits were singles, as Sante's double was the only extra base hit in the game. 
                                                                                                    
Rush finished with a team-high three hits. Kalinski, Guercio, Zito and Morris collected two hits apiece in the victory. 
 
The Presidents are off tomorrow before facing another ranked foe in No. 25 Wheaton (Mass.) Thursday at 10:00 a.m. at Lake Myrtle Field 4 in Auburndale.