CRESTVIEW HILLS, Ky. – Washington & Jefferson stranded 13 base runners as it was unable to hold a one-run lead in the eighth inning, dropping the Presidents' Athletic Conference Championship Game to Thomas More, 4-3.

W&J finishes the year with a 26-17 overall record, the 10th most victories in program history. The program and College will continue to be on display this coming week, as Ross Memorial Park will once again be the site of the NCAA Division III Mideast Regional. Thomas More wins its 30th game of the year in improving to 30-10 and claims the PAC's automatic qualifier to the NCAA Championship field.

W&J manufactured a run in the first inning to score once in the top of the first. Adam LaRue was hit by a pitch to lead off the game and moved up on a sacrifice bunt by Derek Helbing. Nick Vento then singled to shortstop, allowing LaRue to move to third before he crossed the plate on Frank Fortunato's sacrifice fly.

Donovan Pogue produced an RBI single in the bottom half of the frame to plate an unearned run for the Saints that tied the game at 1-1.

W&J loaded the bases with no outs in the third inning on consecutive singles by Helbing, Vento and Fortunato, but only an RBI ground out by Mark Merlino allowed a run to come home. TMC got the run back and again knotted the game with a score in the bottom of the fourth, 2-2.

Michael Ruffing and LaRue hit back-to-back singles with one out in the sixth inning and Helbing's own sacrifice fly allowed W&J to take a 3-2 lead.

In the bottom of the eighth, W&J attempted to get the lead runner on consecutive sacrifice bunt attempts, but was unsuccessful which loaded the bases for a sac fly to tie the game and RBI single for the eventual game-winning run.

Fortunato led off the ninth inning with a double down the left-field line, but pinch runner Luke Zahren was stranded after a fly out and two groundouts.

Fortunato finished with a career-high four hits in going 4-for-4 with a sacrifice fly. LaRue posted his first three hits of the tournament, but reached safely 12 times in 4 games. Vento also collected a trio of base knocks on the day.

Riley Groves (8-3) threw 7.0-plus innings of seven-hit ball on two days rest following his one-hit shutout in the tournament opener against Thiel, but suffered the loss after yielding four runs, including three earned, with four strikeouts and a walk. Joe Vita gave up a single hit in 1.0 inning of relief.