WASHINGTON, Pa. -- The Presidents opened the 2015 season with a split against NCAA Division II West Liberty in non-conference action at Ross Memorial Park, dropping a 6-3 decision in the opener before earning a 5-0 win in the nightcap.

The Washington & Jefferson baseball team opens the year with a 1-1 record and will head to Florida next week with two games in the books. W&J begins play in Winter Haven, Fla., on Sunday, March 15 with a 1:30 p.m. doubleheader against Oswego State (N.Y.). West Liberty slides to 6-4 this season.

In the nightcap, a trio of sophomores combined for the three-hit shutout as Riley Groves started and worked 3.0 innings, yielding just one hit and striking out two. He earned the win due to the pre-determination that each of the Presidents' pitchers would only work a certain number of innings/pitches. Joe Vita worked 3.0 innings of relief and scattered two hits and had one strikeout, while Tim Mulvey closed out the game with a hitless seventh inning.

W&J opened the scoring in the bottom of the third inning. Adam LaRue was hit by a pitch to lead off and advanced to third on a bunt single by Gannon Rooney that was thrown into right field by the Hilltoppers' pitcher. With one out, Nick Vento doubled to right center and Kyle Smith followed that with an RBI single through the right side to give the hosts a 2-0 lead.

The remaining three runs in the game were scored in the bottom of the fifth by the Presidents. LaRue again got on base to open the inning with a single and then stole second. With one out, Michael Ruffing double to right center scoring LaRue, it would be the first of five-straight hits for W&J.

Vento singled to right to put runners on the corners and then Smith singled to left center to score Ruffing. A single by Nick Morton loaded the bases and then Ryan Sciullo collected an infield single off the pitchers' glove for the final run of the inning, 5-0.

Vento and Smith both finished 2-for-3, with Smith driving in two and Vento adding an RBI and scoring a run. Ruffing and LaRue each scored twice as seven players recorded a hit.

In the opener, W&J got on the board in the first inning when Rooney singled and moved up a base on an error by the left fielder. He later advanced on a ground out and scored on a passed ball, 1-0.

West Liberty took a 2-1 led in the top of the second, but a bases loaded walk by Ruffing tied the game in the bottom of the frame.

After a run in the top of the fifth by WLU, Anthony Paladino registered an RBI single to right center to once again knot the game, this time 3-3. The Hilltoppers, however, scored the final three runs, to earn the 6-3 victory in game one.

Rooney and Paladino were both 2-for-4 with a run scored in the contest.

Jared Baird got the ball as the opening-day starter and went 3.0 innings, yielding four hits, and two earned runs with two walks and two strikeouts. Trevor Kerr scattered three hits and a run in 2.0 innings. Nick Kolat took the loss, surrendering four hits and three earned runs in the final 2.0 innings.