WASHINGTON, Pa. --
Nick Vento's grand slam in the bottom of the eighth capped off an 11-4 victory over Thomas More and gave Washington & Jefferson a return berth in next week's Presidents' Athletic Conference Tournament.
With the win, the Presidents end the regular season 24-15 overall, with a 16-8 mark in PAC action. W&J has clinched the third seed in the league tournament and will take on second seed Thiel to open play at Thomas More, the top seed, most likely on Thursday, May 12.
Leading 7-4, W&J welcomed a new pitcher to the game for Thomas More to begin the eighth inning, and
Michael Ruffing and
Adam LaRue both drew walks before
Derek Helbing reached on a bunt single to load the bases. Vento drove the second pitch he saw over the right-center field fence for his seventh homer of the season and third of the series, as the junior homered in each game against the Saints this weekend.
Thomas More scored two in the first inning, as
Bryce Schnatterly hit the first two batters of the game. A single and error scored one run and then a walk loaded the bases once again before the Saints got an RBI ground out to make it 2-0. Schnatterly was able to settle down and get the next two batters to limit the damage.
W&J got the runs back in the bottom of the inning. With one out, Helbing singled and
Frank Fortunato added a two-out base knock to put a pair of runners on for
Ryan Sciullo, who tripled deep down the right-field line, just out of the reach of Thomas More's diving right fielder, 2-2.
The Presidents took the lead in the second when
Anthony Paladino, who singled to lead off, scored on LaRue's sacrifice bunt, 3-2.
A solo run in the fourth by Thomas More again tied the game, 3-3, but W&J responded by plating two runs in the bottom of the inning to take the lead for good.
Nick Morton, Ruffing and LaRue loaded the bases with consecutive singles and Fortunato delivered a two-run, two-out single to left field, 5-3.
W&J scored single runs in the sixth and seventh innings to set the score at 7-4 heading to the bottom of the eighth prior to Vento's grand slam. The eighth inning also featured the first career plate appearance for senior pitcher
Nick Comport, who ground out to end the inning.
The first four batters in W&J's lineup, LaRue, Helbing, Vento and Fortunato, combined to go 9-for-16 on the day, with the first three contributing two hits and Fortunato finishing 3-for-5. Vento drove in four, while Fortunato, LaRue and Sciullo each plated a pair of runs.
Schnatterly improved to 5-2 on the season with the victory, going 5.0-plus innings and yielding five hits and all four runs with two strikeouts and two walks.
Nick Kolat picked up his first save by going the final 4.0 scoreless innings and scattering four hits and striking out four.
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