WASHINGTON, Pa. – Derek Helbing's (Pataskala, Ohio/Watkins Memorial) walk-off double in the bottom of the ninth inning pushed the Washington & Jefferson baseball team past the Spartans of Case Western Reserve in the final game of the two-game weekend series on Sunday, March 5.
 
W&J starts the 2017 season 2-0 while the Spartans fall to 1-5.
 
The Presidents were set up to win the game in their half of the ninth when Nick Vento (Murrysville, Pa./Franklin Regional) made a diving catch in the right-center field alley to end the top of the inning. The rally started with a one-out walk from Luke Zahren (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegheny) followed by Adam LaRue (Imperial, Pa./West Allegheny) reaching on a fielder's choice as Zahren beat the throw to second. Helbing, in his sixth plate appearance of the day, smacked a ball deep into left-center that bounced over the fence, bringing Zahren around to score for the walk-off winner.
 
After the Spartans scored six runs in the top of the seventh, Frank Fortunato (Canonsburg, Pa.Canon-McMillan) led off the bottom half with a single to left-center followed by a double down the left-field line from Mark Merlino (Irwin, Pa./Penn-Trafford) to put runners on second and third. Ryan Sciullo (Vandergrift, Pa./Kiski Area) proceeded to single down the right-field line to score Fortunato before a James Artale (Chagrin Falls, Ohio/Kenston) single up the middle to score Merlino to cut the deficit to 8-6. LaRue drove in the final run of the inning when he was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded which scored Sciullo.
 
Vento led off the eighth with a double to left center and then advanced to third on a fly out. Vento then scored the tying run when Merlino reached on an error by the third baseman.
 
W&J took a 4-2 lead into the seventh inning after plating a run in the fourth and fifth innings and a pair of runs in the sixth.
 
Merlino and Artale led the Presidents' offense with three hits apiece as Merlino drove in one run and scored twice while Artale, appearing in his first collegiate game, plated a run and scored once. Vento, Fortunato and Zahren all finished with two hits and at least one run scored with Fortunato scoring twice. Helbing and LaRue both tallied one hit and two RBI each.
 
The Presidents will host their first Presidents' Athletic Conference games with a home doubleheader against Bethany on Tuesday, March 7, at 2:00 p.m.