MEADVILLE, Pa. - The Washington & Jefferson College baseball team split Saturday's doubleheader in an away matchup against the Allegheny Gators at Robert M. Garbark Field.
The Presidents secured the top seed in the Presidents Athletic Conference with their game one victory. With today's split, the Presidents conclude the regular season with an overall record of 28-12. W&J finished the regular season slate 16-4 in conference play.
Game One – W&J 6, Allegheny 2
The Presidents five-run fourth inning propelled them to victory in game one over the Gators.
Joe Lehner (Painesville, Ohio / Lake Catholic) led off the fourth inning with a walk before advancing to second on a sacrifice bunt by Zac Stern (Coraopolis, Pa. / Montour). Brody Bartenstein then walked, and Andrew Miko (Portage, Pa. / Portage) was hit by a pitch to load the bases with no outs. Brendan Cruz (Carnegie, Pa. / Chartiers Valley) was then hit by a pitch, scoring Lehner to give the Presidents a 1-0 lead.
Ben Schuler (McDonald, Pa. / South Fayette) flew out to second base for the first out of fourth inning before Jacob LaDuca (Clarence, N.Y. / Canisius) singled up the middle to knock in two runs and give the Presidents a 3-0 lead. A throwing error on LaDuca's single resulted in Cruz also scoring, increasing the Presidents' lead to four. Drew Garth (Glenshaw, Pa. / North Hills) then singled up the middle to score LaDuca and put the Presidents up by five.
Allegheny responded in the bottom of the fourth with back-to-back singles to lead off the inning but was only able to muster one run in the inning.
The Presidents added one more run in the top of the seventh to take a 5-1 lead. Nolan Lutz (McDonald, Pa. / South Fayette) led off the inning with a single to left field before advancing on a sacrifice bunt. Lutz scored on Stern's single to right field.
Allegheny's bats came to life in the bottom of the ninth to add three more runs but ultimately fell short as W&J secured the game one victory by a score of 6-4.
Anthony Pass (Clinton, Pa. / West Allegheny) was W&J's winning pitcher, throwing five frames and only allowing one earned run. Pass finished the season with a 7-2 record. Ethan Marszalek (Katy, Texas / Seven Lakes) also had a solid outing for W&J, throwing three innings in relief and allowing no earned runs and only two hits. Ethan Boring (Ligonier, Pa./Ligonier Valley) recorded the final out for his fourth save.
Game Two – Allegheny 8, W&J 1
W&J fell in game two by a score of 8-1 to conclude the regular season.
The Gators' pitching staff stifled the Presidents, as W&J ended the game with only three hits.
Allegheny's bats stayed hot from their ninth inning near comeback in game one, driving in five runs in the bottom of the third and and another three runs in the eighth to take a commanding 8-0 lead. The Gators ended the game with nine hits against W&J's pitching.
Garth was the lone offensive bright spot for the Presidents, as he finished game two 2-4 at the plate, with a single in the first and ninth innings. Brian Feldman (Gibsonia, Pa./Eden Christian Academy) drove in pinch runner Eli Kite () with an RBI single up the middle to break up the shutout in the ninth.
Dante DiMatteo (Pittsburgh, Pa./Fox Chapel) started for W&J and took the loss. DiMatteo pitched 2.2 innings and gave up five earned runs.
On Deck: The top-seeded Presidents will open the PAC Tournament on Wednesday, May 8, at 11 a.m. at Ross Memorial Park in Washington, Pa. W&J will look to claim its fifth straight PAC title.