WASHINGTON, Pa. – Bryce Schnatterly (Cranberry Township, Pa./Seneca Valley) scattered four hits with one walk and three strikeouts over seven innings of work to earn his seventh win of the season, leading the Washington & Jefferson baseball team to its eighth Presidents' Athletic Conference Championship round berth in the last nine years, sixth in a row, with a 10-1 win over Thomas More on Friday, May 12.
 
Schnatterly (7-0) surrendered the first Saints hit in the first inning, a two-out single down the right field line, before retiring the next 10 Thomas More hitters from the first to the end of the fourth inning. After walking the Saints' leadoff man in the fifth, Schnatterly forced Bailey Abbatiello into a 4-6-3 double play before setting down each of the next four batters.
 
After Schnatterly allowed the lone Thomas More run on three hits in the seventh inning, Will Bowser (Burgettstown, Pa./Madonna (W.Va.)) relieved the junior right-hander with a perfect eighth inning, including two strikeouts.
 
Tim Mulvey (Glenshaw, Pa./OLSH) entered the game in the ninth and retired three of the four hitters he faced, including a strikeout to end the game to give the Presidents a chance to play for their 11th PAC title. With his appearance tonight, Mulvey tied Eddie Nogay (2011-14) and Dave Trushel (2009-12) for the most career appearances by a W&J pitcher (53).
 
Offensively, Adam LaRue (Imperial, Pa./West Allegheny) led off the game by reaching on an error and advanced to second on a ground out before Nick Vento (Murrysville, Pa./Franklin Regional) doubled him home to give the Presidents the lead. Two batters later, Nick Gatins (North Royalton, Ohio/North Royalton) singled to right center to bring Vento home, 2-0.
 
Mark Merlino (Irwin, Pa./Penn-Trafford) led off the seventh inning with a single and advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt and a ground out. LaRue then poked a single through the right side, bringing Merlino in to score, as the Presidents took a 3-0 lead.
 
After the Saints scratched their only run of the game across home plate in the bottom of the seventh, Kevin Begley (Allison Park, Pa./Deer Lakes) reached on a bases loaded infield single to shortstop, allowing Mullen Socha (Independence, Ohio/St. Ignatius) to score. During the next at-bat, Gatins was able to score from third on a wild pitch to put the Presidents up, 5-1.
 
W&J was able to add five more runs onto their lead on four hits and two Saints errors in the top of the ninth to seal the win.
 
LaRue led a group of four Presidents with multi-hit games as he recorded three hits, drove in a run and scored twice to go along with a stolen base. Gatins and Merlino both went 2-for-4 at the plate with an RBI and two runs each while Begley was 2-for-3 with two RBI and a walk.
 
The Presidents will need to win twice on Sunday, May 13, in order to clinch the PAC title with game one against Grove City beginning at 1:00 p.m. and the "if necessary" game scheduled for 30 minutes after the conclusion of game one.