APPLETON, Wis. -- Nick Gatins (North Royalton, Ohio/North Royalton) delivered a two-run double in the third inning to give Washington & Jefferson a lead it would never relinquish en route to a 4-2 win over Concordia-Chicago to open up the 2017 NCAA Division III Baseball Championship.

The No. 16 Presidents' win improves their overall record to 39-11, extending their program record for wins in a season, while the Cougars fall to 33-12 overall. It marks the first College World Series victory for W&J, which is making its first appearance all-time.
 
Trailing 1-0 entering the third inning, Dante Dalesandro (Pittsburgh, Pa./Mount Lebanon) led off with a line drive single up the middle followed by a single through the left side by Adam LaRue (Imperial, Pa./West Allegheny). Derek Helbing (Pataskala, Ohio/Watkins Memorial) then laid down a bunt and was able to beat the throw to first to load the bases. Nick Vento (Murrysville, Pa./Franklin Regional) got the Presidents on the board with a sacrifice fly to center in the next W&J at-bat, allowing LaRue and Helbing to move up a base as well, setting the stage for Gatins' go-ahead hit to left center, his team record 19th of the season.
 
In the fifth, the Presidents were able to put two runners on base, courtesy of a one-out walk by Helbing and a two-out single from Gatins. Mark Merlino (Irwin, Pa./Penn-Trafford) stepped in next and singled to center to extend the W&J lead to 4-1.
 
The Cougars capped the scoring in the game with one run on two hits in the bottom of the fifth. Their first run came in the first inning thanks to a lead-off solo home run.
 
Gatins led the offense with three hits in five at-bats on the day, including his third inning double, to go along with two RBI. Vento and Dalesandro also recorded multi-hit games as Vento went 2-for-3 with an RBI and a walk and Dalesandro reached in 2-of-4 at-bats and scored a run.
 
Vento's two hits today give him 251 in his career, tying the program record held by Josh Stanscia (2011-2014), while his three at-bats today gave him 190 for the season, a new program record, and 631 in his career, second most all-time. This was also Vento's 177th game and 175th start in a W&J uniform, breaking the career games record (Staniscia, 2011-14) and tying the career starts record (Shaun Pfeil, 2004-07).
 
Bryce Schnatterly (Cranberry Township, Pa./Seneca Valley) earned his ninth win of the season, tied for the third most wins in a single season, after pitching seven innings and allowing two earned runs on six hits with one walk and three strikeouts. Will Bowser (Burgettstown, Pa./Madonna (W.Va.)) entered in the eighth inning and held the Cougars scoreless, issuing one walk. Helbing closed out the game with a scoreless ninth inning to earn his sixth save of 2017 (12th of his career, tied for second in program history), allowing two hits and striking out a pair of hitters, including a game-ending punch out with runners on the corners.
 
The fifth-seeded Presidents will face eighth-seeded Roanoke (Va.), who defeated top-seeded Oswego St. 8-7 today, on Saturday, May 27, at 1:15 CDT (2:15 EDT) with a trip to the Pool A championship round on the line. Live links will be available on gopresidents.com once they are made available.

Gatins, Schnatterly and Coach Jeff Mountain addressed the media following the game

W&J postgame news conference from Game 1 win vs. Concordia-Chicago: https://t.co/24eZA7wfAU #d3b

— D3baseball (@d3baseball) May 26, 2017