Box Score BEAVER FALLS, Pa. – It didn't take long for the Presidents to strike as No. 19-ranked Washington & Jefferson crossed home plate at least once in every inning en route to a 23-3 series-opening win at Geneva.
 
The victory pushes W&J to 21-7 this season and 14-2 in the Presidents' Athletic Conference as the Presidents narrow in on their ninth-straight conference tournament berth. The offensive output matches W&J's largest of the season, also a 23-3 PAC win on April 5 at Westminster.
 
Derek Helbing (Pataskala, Ohio/Watkins Memorial) hit his team-leading sixth homer of the season with one out in the first inning and Nick Vento (Murrysville, Pa./Franklin Regional) came in to score on an RBI single from Frank Fortunato (Canonsburg, Pa./Canon-McMillan) after tripling, 2-0. Helbing also drove in the lone run of the second inning with an RBI ground out.
 
The top of the third inning was the first of back-to-back six-run frames for W&J. Ryan Sciullo (Vandergrift, Pa./Kiski Area) belted his third homer of the season and 10th of his career, a two-run shot that plated Mark Merlino (Irwin, Pa./Penn-Trafford) with one out and then Helbing cleared the bases with a three-run double to extend the lead to 8-0. Consecutive singles by Vento and Fortunato plated another run as W&J was up 9-0 through three innings.
 
The Presidents loaded the bases with one out in the fourth and Adam LaRue (Imperial, Pa./West Allegheny) drove in a run when he was hit by a pitch for his PAC-leading 12th time this season. Helbing once again came to the plate with the bases loaded and delivered a two-run single to give him seven RBI on the day. Vento doubled to right to bring in another run and Merlino contributed a two-run single to stretch the lead to 15-0 after four frames.
 
An RBI double by Mullen Socha (Independence, Ohio/St. Ignatius) accounted for the lone run in the fifth inning and three more came in to score in the sixth thanks to an RBI double by Spencer Howell (Oakwood, Ohio/Oakwood) and a two-run, two-base hit by James Artale (Chagrin Falls, Ohio/Kenston). Socha launched his first career homer to lead off the seventh and put W&J at 20 runs for the second time this year and sixth time in Jeff Mountain's tenure as head coach.
 
Geneva got on the board with three runs in the bottom of the seventh, but Artale got two of them back on one swing with his first career homer in the top of the eighth. A Kevin Begley (Allison Park, Pa./Deer Lakes) sac fly in the ninth gave W&J its final run of the afternoon.
 
Helbing's seven RBI tied the most in the PAC this season and marked the largest total for a W&J player since Jim Pasquine drove in nine runs on May 7, 2010 against Waynesburg. The senior went 3-for-4 (including his 100th career hit) on the day with two extra-base knocks, plus three runs scored. Vento went 3-for-4 as well, finishing a homer shy of the cycle and Socha collected three hits in his only three plate appearances, also finishing a triple shy of the cycle like Helbing. Fortunato, Nick Gatins (North Royalton, Ohio/North Royalton), Howell and Artale all notched two of W&J's 22 hits, with Artale driving in a career-best four runs.
 
Riley Groves (Louisville, Ohio/Louisville) picked up his 22 win to move him into fourth place by himself on the W&J career list. He also improved to 5-2 on the season while working 6.0 innings, which gave him 186.0 innings in his career, fifth most among all Presidents pitchers. The senior scatter four hits and got four strike outs. Tanner Gaerke (Plain City, Ohio/Jonathan Alder) and Mitchell Taufer (Washington, Pa./Bishop Canevin) both had their third scoreless outings of the season with Gaerke going 1.1 innings and Taufer pitching the ninth and striking out one.
 
The two teams are scheduled to wrap up the season series with a doubleheader beginning at 11 a.m. at Ross Memorial Park on Saturday, April 22.