WASHINGTON, Pa. -- Frank Fortunato and Mark Merlino both went 4-for-4, while Nick Gatins and Michael Ruffing each tallied a pair of hits, in Washington & Jefferson's 10-2 nonconference win over Muskingum.

The victory is W&J's fourth-straight, improving the Presidents to 18-14 overall this season. The Muskies drop their sixth in the past seven games to slip to 16-17 on the year.

It was the visitors who drew first blood, striking for a run off starter Joe Vita in the top of the first inning. W&J saw just four pitches in being retired 1-2-3 in the bottom of the first.

The second inning went much better for the home team, as W&J used six hits to plate four and open up a 4-1 lead. Fortunato led off with a double off the fence in center field, before four-straight one-out singles got W&J on the board, 2-1. Merlino's single through the left side put runners on the corners, and an infield single by Gatins scored Fortunato. Nick Morton's base knock to center field loaded the bases, and Ruffing plated Merlino with a single through the left side. A sacrifice fly from Adam LaRue and a Derek Helbing RBI single, wrapped up the scoring at 4-1.

Two more runs were scored in the bottom of the third. Gatins delivered a sac fly with one out, and Merlino later scored on a single down the right-field line by Ruffing, 6-1.

The fifth inning saw W&J tack on two more runs, with Merlino and Gatins notching back-to-back singles to lead off and Merlino scoring from second on a sacrifice bunt by Morton where no one was covering home plate. After Gatins stole third, Ruffing brought him home with a sacrifice fly, 8-1.

In the sixth, Ryan Sciullo contributed an RBI single to score pinch-runner Mullen Socha, and then came in to score on a double down the left-field line by Merlino, 10-1.

The four hits for each of Fortunato and Merlino both represented career highs and the third and fourth times this season that a President has tallied four hits in a game, joining Sciullo and Nick Vento. Merlino added an RBI and scored three times, while Fortunato crossed the plate once. Gatins went 2-for-3 with two RBI and two runs scored, while Ruffing brought in three in going 2-for-2.

Vita (3-2) earned the win despite pitching just the first three innings due to a predetermined pitch count and W&J utilizing six pitchers. The starter scattered seven hits over 3.0 innings, surrendering just one run, on 44 pitches. Garrett Harstine worked a scoreless 2.0 innings and struck out two on 21 pitches. Nick Kolat, Will Bowser and Tim Mulvey each threw scoreless innings, with Bowser punching out a pair. Matt Heslin yielded a run to the Muskies in the eighth.

W&J returns to Presidents' Athletic Conference play on Saturday, April 30, when it travels to Bethany for the first two games of the weekend's three-game series. The doubleheader is slated to begin at 1 p.m.