WASHINGTON, Pa. – The Washington & Jefferson College baseball team used a strong outing from freshman pitcher Eric Streussnig (Pittsburgh, Pa./Plum) to secure a 6-1 victory over visiting Marietta College Wednesday afternoon in non-conference play at Ross Memorial Park.
The Presidents improve their 2025 overall record to 8-4 on the season prior to Presidents' Athletic Conference play. The Pioneers slide to 9-7 in nonconference play.
W&J was led offensively by Jacob LaDuca (Clarence, N.Y./Canisius) and Knox Meier (Tampa, Fla./Berkeley Prep), each batting 2-for-3 on the day with a double each. Drew Garth (Glenshaw, Pa./North Hills) and Luke Alvarez (Elizabeth, Pa./Elizabeth Forward) also doubled in the victory. Josh Dezenzo (Alliance, Ohio/Marlington) picked up the remaining hit for the Presidents.
After two scoreless innings of play, the Marietta Pioneers struck first with a run in the top of the third. A Pioneer batter reached on an error and was scored to draw in the first run of the game.
The Presidents knotted the score at one in the bottom of the fourth. LaDuca smacked a leadoff double to right center and advanced to third on a Paddy Hernjak (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cumberland Valley) groundout. Garth smacked an RBI double to plate LaDuca to even the score at 1-1.
Making quick work of the Marietta batters in the following inning, W&J's bats continued to roll, taking their first lead of the game. A one-out double from Meier followed by a double by Alvarez added another run, 2-1. LaDuca scored Alvarez from third on a single to shallow center field to take a 3-1 lead.
After another quick top of the inning, the Presidents added two more insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth. Freshman Jack Anderson (Pittsburgh, Pa./Plum) scored Garth from third on an error from the third baseman, 4-1. Zac Stern (Coraopolis, Pa./Montour) made a heads up play to score the Presidents' fifth run on a wild pitch.
Meier batted in the final run of the outing in the bottom of the eighth inning, scoring Dezenzo from second to take the 6-1 victory.
Streussnig struck out three batters and allowed just one unearned run in six innings of work. Streussnig improved his record to 2-0 on the season. Justin Giarrusso (Pittsburgh, Pa./Plum) and Brendan Cruz (Carnegie, Pa./Chartiers Valley) combined to work the final three innings scoreless to nail down the victory for the Presidents.
W&J returns to action on Friday (March 21) to open PAC play against the Geneva Golden Tornadoes at Ross Memorial Park. First pitch for the league doubleheader is scheduled for a 2:30 p.m.