WASHINGTON, Pa. – The Washington & Jefferson College baseball team rolled to a resounding 12-3 victory over Saint Vincent in the title round of the 2023 Presidents' Athletic Conference Championships.
The PAC title is the fourth-straight for the Presidents and 15th in program history. W&J has won 11 conference titles under 21st year head coach Jeff Mountain.
The win is the 12th straight for the Presidents in PAC Tournament play. The win is the sixth-straight for W&J, who improves to 31-12 overall. The loss ends Saint Vincent's season at 22-18.
Shane Fox (Valencia, Pa./Mars Area) was handed the ball in the clincher and did what he needed to do. He turned in a season-high 7.1 innings. Fox scattered eight hits and allowed just one earned run while striking out three.
Saint Vincent opened the scoring with an RBI double by Billy Perroz in the top of the first inning. However, the lead was short-lived for the Bearcats. Tyler Horvat (Irwin, Pa./Penn Trafford) opened the bottom of the frame with single and scored a batter later when Trevor Dean (San Diego, Calif./Rancho Bernardo) crushed a two-run home run to give W&J a 2-1 advantage. W&J later tacked on a third run when Jacob LaDuca (Clarence, N.Y./Canisius) produced an RBI groundout to make it 3-1.
Dean helped W&J add to its lead with a two-run single in the bottom of the second inning. The two-run single gave Dean four RBI and W&J a 5-1 advantage.
W&J added three more runs in the fourth inning. Nolan Lutz (McDonald, Pa./South Fayette) singled home Horvat to make it 6-1. LaDuca then made it 8-1 with a two-run bloop double down the right field line by LaDuca. Lutz tacked on an RBI single to score Logan Scheider (McDonald, Pa./West Allegheny) in the fifth inning, which made it 9-1 Presidents.
Saint Vincent scored single runs in the seventh and eighth innings to cut the deficit to 9-3.
LaDuca tacked on a two-run RBI single and Luke Virag (New Kensington, Pa./Burrell) smacked an RBI triple to stretch the lead to 12-3 as the game entered the ninth.
Lutz finished with four hits and three runs scored Saturday to pace the offensive efforts. Horvat finished with three hits and three runs scored. LaDuca had two hits and five RBI while Dean had two hits and four RBI.
W&J earns the PAC's automatic berth to the NCAA Championships. The Presidents will compete in the NCAAs for a 10th time in program history.
2023 PAC All-Tournament
Most Outstanding Player:
Washington & Jefferson sophomore infielder Jacob LaDuca (Clarence, N.Y./Canisius)
Senior outfielder Trevor Dean (San Diego, Calif./Rancho Bernardo)
Senior pitcher/outfielder Tyler Horvat (Irwin, Pa./Penn Trafford)
Sophomore infielder Jacob LaDuca (Clarence, N.Y./Canisius)
Senior pitcher Shane Fox (Valencia, Pa./Mars Area)