WASHINGTON, Pa. – Sophomore shortstop Jacob LaDuca's(Clarence, N.Y./Canisius) led off the 10th inning with a solo home run to propel the Washington & Jefferson College baseball team into the Presidents' Athletic Conference finals. The home run finished off a 4-3 comeback victory for the Presidents over second seeded Grove City in tournament action Friday afternoon at Ross Memorial Park.
The dramatic opposite field blast gave W&J's its 11th straight win in Presidents' Athletic Conference Tournament play. The win was the 30th of the season for W&J. The Presidents have reached 30 wins in 12 different seasons during head coach Jeff Mountain's tenure.
W&J advances into Saturday's title round versus an opponent to be determined. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m. Saturday at Ross Memorial Park.
Grove City took a 1-0 lead on an RBI single by Shane Cato in the top of the second inning. The Wolverines extended their lead to 3-0 in the fifth inning. Grove City took advantage of a hit by pitch and a throwing error to score twice in the fifth.
W&J loaded the bases in both the second and fifth innings but came away empty handed.
The Presidents bats finally came through in the bottom of the sixth inning. W&J evened the score with three runs on four hits in the frame.
Sam Schuster (Fairport Harbor, Ohio/Fairport Harding) ripped a RBI double off the right field fence to score Scout Zaas (Powell, Ohio / Wellington School).
Following a walk and a pitching change, Tyler Horvat (Irwin, Pa./Penn Trafford) connected on a sac fly to score LaDuca and cut the deficit to 3-2.
Trevor Dean (San Diego, Calif. / Rancho Bernardo) followed with a clutch two-out RBI single to left field that scored Schuster to tie the score at 3-3.
Both teams put runners on base in the ninth inning but neither team could push a run across, and the game headed to extra innings.
Grove City drew a pair of walks to lead off the top of the 10th inning. However, a double play lineout and a groundout ended the threat.
That set the stage for LaDuca, who launched the 1-0 pitch just over the right field fence to provide the game-winning run for the Presidents.
The home run was the second of season and third in LaDuca's collegiate career.
W&J's pitching rose to the occasion in Friday's winner's bracket final game. Nate Nolan (McDonald, Pa./West Allegheny), just a freshman, allowed three runs (two earned) in five innings of work.
Mason Kolbe (Bradenton, Fla./Out-Of-Door Academy) tossed four scoreless innings of relief out of the W&J bullpen. The four innings was the longest outing of Kolbe's collegiate career. He struck out four and allowed just two hits.
Dante DiMatteo (Pittsburgh, Pa./Fox Chapel) worked out of trouble in the 10th inning and picked up the win to improve to 2-0.
Schuster collected three hits to pace the offense. Dean, Zaas, and LaDuca each finished with two hits in the victory.