LAKELAND, Fla. – The Presidents rallied for victories in both ends of a doubleheader against Salve Regina (R.I.) to kick off the Florida trip with 5-3 and 10-8 wins.
 
Derek Helbing picked up the save in both games, the first two of his career after adding pitching duties to his repertoire this season. In the first game, he entered in relief of starter Riley Groves to begin the seventh inning, walking one, hitting a batter and striking out one in earning his first save. The junior closed out the second game with a 1.0 inning appearance, allowing two hits and a run before getting a double-play ball and closing out the game in relief of Garrett Harstine who earned his first career win with 0.1 inning, forcing a fly out against the lone batter he faced.
 
The W&J bats took a little bit of time to get comfortable on the afternoon, being held scoreless through three innings by Salve Regina starter Cory Poplawski. The Seahawks plated single runs in each of the first two innings to take a 2-0 lead before Josh Crummer got the Presidents on the scoreboard with a solo shot to left field to lead off the bottom of the fourth, 2-1.
 
SRU, the visitors in the first game, got the run right back in the top of the fifth off Groves to stretch the lead back to two, 2-1. With one out in the bottom of the fifth, Kevin Begley struck out, but reached on a wild pitch and was lifted in favor of pinch-runner Adam LaRue, who would come around to score five pitches later when Helbing drilled an RBI double to the fence in right center, 3-2. After a walk to Michael Ruffing put runners at first and second, Nick Vento laced an RBI double to left, scoring Helbing to tie the game and advancing Ruffing to third. Frank Fortunato reached on a throwing error with two outs, where Ruffing came in to score and then was caught off of first long enough to allow Vento to score from third on the play, ending the inning 5-3.
 
Groves surrendered a two-out double in the sixth, but got the next batter to ground out to end the threat and allow Helbing to enter with the two-run cushion and earn the save.
 
Ryan Sciullo had two of W&J's five hits in the opener, with Helbing and Vento posting doubles and Crummer's homer as the other three hits for the Red & Black.
 
After the two teams combined for eight runs and 12 hits in the opener, the two offenses clicked to the tune of 18 runs and 22 hits, plus a combined seven errors in the night cap.
 
Bryce Schnatterly got the start on the mound after tossing a one-hitter in his season debut against Grove City last week. The sophomore worked 5.0 innings and gave up seven hits, five runs (two earned) and struck out four. Will Bowser worked 0.2 innings and allowed two hits and a pair of earned runs before giving way to Harstine who retired his one opponent to end the inning.
 
Like the first game, SRU plated the first run of the game on a double to hold a 1-0 lead after an inning. W&J got on the board with a pair in the top of the second after Nick Gatins walked on four pitches to lead off and scored on a triple down the left-field line by Dan Trettel. Nelson McKown stepped in as the next hitter and singled to center to give W&J a 2-1 lead.
 
Thanks to three throwing errors by the Presidents with two outs in the bottom of the fourth, the Seahawks scored three runs to take a 4-2 lead after four frames. From that point on, every half inning featured at least one run being scored.
 
W&J began by taking back the lead with a three spot in the fifth. Ruffing was hit by the first pitch of the inning and then Vento belted his second homer of the season to tie the game and chase SRU starter Jimmy Fitzgerald. Fortunato singled and stole second, advancing to third on a ground out by Gatins and then scoring on a Trettel sacrifice fly, 5-4.
 
The Seahawks got back a run in the bottom of the fifth and then the Presidents struck for two in the sixth. Nick Morton walked and was lifted for pinch runner Mullen Socha, who advanced to second on a wild pitch and third on a single by LaRue. Ruffing hit what appeared to be at least one out, potentially two with a ground ball to first, but the first baseman was unable to handle the ball and all runners were safe, including Socha who scored. LaRue later stole third and scored on a sac fly from Vento and W&J lead 7-5.
 
Another two runs from the home team in the second game knotted the game back up at 7-7 after six innings, but W&J used a three-spot in the seventh to take the lead and eventual victory. With one out, Crummer ripped a double to left center and pinch-runner Luke Zahren came in to score as Begley notched a double of his own to center, 8-7. Begley scored when LaRue reached on an error, and LaRue came around to score as Ruffing again reached on an error once again.
 
Helbing closed the door after surrendering a run in the bottom of the seventh and W&J held on to advance to 4-2 on the season, while Salve Regina opens the year 0-2.
 
LaRue, Vento and Fortunato each collected two hits, with Vento driving in three and Trettel plating two.
 
W&J will play its third game of the Florida slate, and first scheduled nine-inning game of the year, tomorrow (Saturday, March 19) at 3:15 p.m. against Benedictine (Ill.) at Lake Myrtle Field 3 in Auburndale.