WAYNESBURG, Pa. – Third baseman Frank Fortunato (Canonsburg, Pa./Canon-McMillan) drove in six runs between the two games as the Washington & Jefferson baseball team clinched the season series with a doubleheader sweep of Waynesburg by posting a 5-2 victory in game one before a 16-2 win in the nightcap.
 
The Presidents, ranked 23rd in the latest D3baseball.com Top 25 poll, improve to 11-3 on the season, including 6-0 in the Presidents' Athletic Conference. The 6-0 conference mark represents the best start in league play for W&J since beginning the 2010 campaign 9-0 against PAC foes. Waynesburg slips to 8-10 on the year and 3-4 in the league. The Presidents and Yellow Jackets will wrap up the 2017 season series at Ross Memorial Park tomorrow, Sunday, April 2, at 1 p.m.
 
In the opener, W&J did all of its damage in the first three innings. Second baseman Adam LaRue (Imperial, Pa./West Allegheny) began the game with a single and went to third when catcher Derek Helbing (Pataskala, Ohio/Watkins Memorial) doubled down the left-field line. A sacrifice fly by right fielder Nick Vento (Murrysville, Pa./Franklin Regional) got the Presidents on the board, 1-0, and then Fortunato recorded his first RBI of the day with a ground out to give W&J a 2-0 lead through one inning.
 
Designated hitter Kevin Begley (Allison Park, Pa./Deer Lakes) kicked off the third inning with a single to right center and stole second before Vento walked with two outs to put two runners on. Fortunato then blasted the first pitch of his at bat over the left-center field fence to make the margin 5-0.
 
Waynesburg got an unearned run back in the bottom of the third off starting pitcher Riley Groves (Louisville, Ohio/Louisville), who would retire 10 of the next 11 batters he faced before giving up a solo homer to lead off the seventh inning and close the scoring in game one. Groves went the distance to improve to 3-1 this season and pick up the 20th win of his career, moving him into a tie for fifth on the W&J all-time list. The senior surrendered just a pair of hits and one earned run while striking out six and walking one.
 
Begley recorded the lone multi-hit showing in the opener, while Fortunato finished with four RBI in the game.
 
In the nightcap, W&J scored in six of the seven innings, plating multiple runs in five of those frames.
 
LaRue opened the game with a double and Fortunato drove in both LaRue and Helbing, who reached on an error, with a one-out single to center. With runners on second and third, center fielder Ryan Sciullo (Vandergrift, Pa./Kiski Area) reached on an infield single that scored Fortunato and eventually brought first baseman Mark Merlino (Irwin, Pa./Penn-Trafford) in to score on a throwing error, 4-0.
 
The Presidents manufactured a run in the second inning with two outs after LaRue was hit by a pitch for the team-leading sixth time and stole second before scoring on a single by designated hitter Helbing, 5-0.
 
Waynesburg cut the lead to 5-2 in the bottom of the second, but an RBI single by catcher Dan Trettel (Wexford, Pa./North Allegheny) and two-run base knock by left fielder Dante Dalesandro (Pittsburgh, Pa./Mount Lebanon) extended the lead to 8-2 after three innings.
 
Trettel, Helbing and Vento all recorded RBI singles in the fifth to add to the lead and make it 11-2. Trettel got in on the act again in the top of the sixth when he singled home shortstop Nick Gatins (North Royalton, Ohio/North Royalton), who had plated a run with a double in the previous at bat.
 
Three more markers were added in the top of the seventh as a trio of pinch hitters drove in runs. Josh Crummer (Great Falls, Va./Flint Hill School) was first with a sacrifice fly and then AJ Melvin (Alexandria, Va./West Potomac) hit an RBI single and Luke Zahren (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Allegheny) walked with the bases loaded.
 
W&J hammered out 20 hits in the second game, the second most by the Presidents this season and seventh game with double-digit hits on the year. Merlino and Trettel both recorded three hits in the game, with Trettel driving in three and scoring twice and Merlino crossing home three times. Helbing, Fortunato, Sciullo and Gatins each collected a pair of hits as every W&J starter had at least one hit on the day, and 12 Presidents totaled base knocks.
 
Bryce Schnatterly (Cranberry Township, Pa./Seneca Valley) improved to 2-0 this season by working the first 5.0 innings and allowing just three hits and a pair of earned runs. He also struck out four. Will Bowser (Burgettstown, Pa./Madonna (W.Va.)) and Tim Mulvey (Glenshaw, Pa./Our Lady of the Sacred Heart) both worked scoreless innings of relief, surrendering one hit apiece. Bowser struck out two and Mulvey punched out one.