Box Score WASHINGTON, Pa. – The Washington & Jefferson baseball team earned its first season sweep of Waynesburg since 2014 with a 10-7 come-from-behind win on Sunday, April 2, in Presidents' Athletic Conference play.

The win extends the Presidents' win streak to five games as they now hold an overall record of 12-3 and a PAC-best 7-0 record, the team's best start to PAC play since 2010 (9-0), while the loss puts the Yellow Jackets at 8-11 overall and 3-5 in conference.

The comeback began in the fourth inning, with the Presidents down 7-1. Ryan Sciullo (Vandergrift, Pa./Kiski Area) reached on a one-out double and then advanced to third on a fielding error. Sciullo then came around to score off a Nick Gatins' (North Royalton, Ohio/North Royalton) double to center. In the next at-bat, Dan Trettel (Wexford, Pa./North Allegheny) reached on a fielder's choice, advancing Gatins to third, followed by a Kevin Begley (Allison Park, Pa./Deer Lakes) single to right field which scored Gatins and allowed Trettel and Begley to advance to third and second, respectively, after a fielding error on the right fielder. Adam LaRue (Imperial, Pa./West Allegheny) concluded the scoring in the inning with a sacrifice fly to left, plating Trettel, as the Presidents trailed just 7-4 at the end of the fourth.

After holding the Yellow Jackets to one hit in the top of the fifth, the Presidents continued cutting into the lead again. The home half started with a bang as Frank Fortunato (Canonsburg, Pa./Canon-McMillan) hit a lead-off home run to center field, putting the Presidents down by two, 7-5. Mark Merlino (Irwin, Pa./Penn-Trafford) then reached on a single, and advanced to third on a double by Sciullo in the next at-bat. Gatins hit a sacrifice fly to center field to score Merlino and advance Sciullo to third. Trettel then singled to center field, scoring Sciullo to tie the game, 7-7, heading into the sixth inning.

Leading off the bottom of the sixth, Nick Vento (Murrysville, Pa./Franklin Regional) reached on a dropped third strike and raced around to third after a the throw to first sailed down the right-field line. Fortunato was then able to drive in Vento on a sacrifice fly to right field, giving W&J its first lead of the day, 8-7.

The Presidents were able to extend their lead in the seventh inning when Begley reached base on a one-out walk, and was replaced by Mullen Socha (Independence, Ohio/St. Ignatius) as a pinch runner.  Singles by LaRue and Derek Helbing (Pataskala, Ohio/Watkins Memorial), respectively, moved Socha to scoring position and brought the insurance run home. After Vento was hit by a pitch to load the bases, LaRue was able to score on a sacrifice fly to center field from Fortunato, putting the Presidents up 10-7. This would prove to be all the runs needed in the game as Matt Heslin (McDonald, Pa./Fort Cherry) and Helbing came on to pitch scoreless eighth and ninth innings, respectively, to close out the game.

Fortunato led the W&J offense in the game with two hits in three at-bats, including a home run, and extended his hitting streak to seven games. Helbing and Gatins both finished with two hits and two RBI while Sciullo and Merlino also both recorded two hits each and combined to score three runs. Six different Presidents recorded multiple hits in the game, en route to a total of 14 team hits.

Joe Vita (Gibsonia, Pa./Hampton) started on the mound for the Presidents and was relieved by Trevor Kerr (Orrville, Ohio/Orrville). Kerr (2-1) pitched 3.2 innings in relief, allowing one run on four hits with no walks and three strikeouts to earn the victory. Helbing picked up his first save of the season, seventh in his career, with a scoreless ninth highlighted by two strikeouts.

The Presidents will be back in action this Wednesday, April 5, when they travel to Westminster in PAC action starting at 4:00 p.m.