APPLETON, Wis. –
Riley Groves (Louisville, Ohio/Louisville) allowed one earned run on just two hits over seven innings as the fifth-seeded Washington & Jefferson baseball team defeated eighth-seeded Roanoke (Va.), 11-1, on Saturday afternoon, May 27.
The win gives the 16th-ranked Presidents their first 40-win season in program history (40-11 overall) while the Maroons fall to 34-18.
After falling behind 1-0 in the second, the Presidents got the bats going in the bottom of the fourth inning when
Derek Helbing (Pataskala, Ohio/Watkins Memorial) launched his program-record tying 12th home run of the season into the W&J bullpen beyond the left-center field wall. Three batters later, and with
Nick Vento (Murrysville, Pa./Franklin Regional) on first base,
Mark Merlino (Irwin, Pa./Penn-Trafford) blasted his eighth home run of the season into the Presidents' bullpen to give the team its first lead of the game at 3-1.
Jake Gordon (Hatfield, Pa./Pennridge) led off the fifth with a walk and was advanced to second on a sac bunt.
Dante Dalesandro (Pittsburgh, Pa./Mount Lebanon) followed with a single up the middle, scoring Gordon to give W&J a 4-1 lead, and advanced to third on
Adam LaRue's (Imperial, Pa./West Allegheny) double to left center. Vento then hit a sac fly to deep center field to bring Dalesandro across the plate.
Groves continued to baffle the Roanoke hitters while the W&J offense continued to score, putting up two runs in the sixth, three in the seventh and one more in the eighth inning to yield the final margin.
Groves' seven inning outing gives the senior righty the new program single season innings pitched record (86.2) to go along with his 11th win of the season, second most in school history, and the 28th of his career, tied with Eddie Nogay (2011-14) for the all-time lead.
Vento hit a book-rule double in the bottom of the eighth to not only extend his hitting streak to 13 games, but to also move past Josh Staniscia (2011-14) for the most hits in program history (252). Today was also Vento's 50th game and start this season, establishing new program highs, in addition to his 176th career start, also a new program record.
Helbing finished 3-for-3 at the plate in his 50th game of the season to go along with an RBI, two runs scored and a walk. Gordon, Dalesandro and
Kevin Begley (Allison Park, Pa./Deer Lakes) each had two hits in the game to provide a punch from the seventh through ninth spots in the batting order, combining for six hits in 10 at-bats, three runs and five RBI. All W&J starting hitters had at least one hit and seven had at least one RBI.
Matt Heslin (McDonald, Pa./Fort Cherry) was first out of the bullpen for the Presidents as he pitched a perfect eighth inning with two strikeouts before
Tim Mulvey (Glenshaw, Pa./OLSH) extended his own program record with his 56th career appearance in the ninth inning. Mulvey did not allow a walk or a hit and was able to strike out the final batter of the game to close it out. In total, the W&J pitchers combined to limit Roanoke to a season-low two hits.
The Presidents advance to the Pool A championship round on Sunday, May 28, and will face Roanoke at 5:30 p.m. (6:30 p.m. EDT).
Merlino, Groves and Coach
Jeff Mountain address the media following the game
Helbing offers his thoughts on the 11-1 win
Photo gallery (Courtesy of D3photograph.com)
