APPLETON, Wis. – The fifth-seeded Washington & Jefferson baseball team defeated eighth-seeded Roanoke (Va.) by a score of 8-1 on Sunday, May 28, in the Division III College World Series to win Pool A unblemished and advance to its first National Championship series.
 
The No. 16 Presidents improve to a program best 41-11 overall for the season while the Maroons fall to 35-19.
 
Trailing 1-0 entering the bottom of the first inning, Adam LaRue (Imperial, Pa./West Allegheny) and Derek Helbing (Pataskala, Ohio/Watkins Memorial) recorded consecutive singles before Nick Vento (Murrysville, Pa./Franklin Regional) got the Presidents on the board with a line drive single to right, scoring LaRue. Nick Gatins (North Royalton, Ohio/North Royalton) followed with a single to center to load the bases and then came all the way around to score when Mark Merlino (Irwin, Pa./Penn-Trafford) tripled to right-center field, giving the Presidents a 4-1 lead.
 
Ryan Sciullo (Vandergrift, Pa./Kiski Area) capped the five-run first inning for the Presidents with a sac fly to right field.
 
With one out in the second inning, LaRue reached first on a hit by pitch and advanced to second on a walk to Helbing. Vento proceeded to lift a high fly ball down the right field line, just inside the pole for a three-run home run, his ninth of the season and program-high 26th of his career, to give W&J an 8-1 lead.
 
From the second to the sixth inning, Trevor Kerr (Orrville, Ohio/Orrville) retired a game-high 12 batters to keep the Presidents out in front. Kerr concluded the game with six innings pitched and allowed one earned run on six hits with one walk and five strikeouts to earn his sixth win of the year (6-4).
 
Ben Marsico (Bradfordwoods, Pa./North Allegheny) relieved Kerr and pitched the final three innings to earn his first collegiate save. The freshman righty did not allow a run and surrendered just two hits with no walks and one strikeout.
 
Vento's two hits and four RBI on the game led the W&J offense as his four RBI gives him 63 on the season, one shy of tying the single season record (Frank Quirin, 2010). Merlino finished with two hits in the game, including his first-inning three-run triple, and scored a run and walked.
 
Six other Presidents each recorded a hit in the contest to mark the 33rd time this year W&J has recorded 10 or more hits.
 
The Presidents advance to the National Championship series and will face third-seeded (No. 15) Cal Lutheran on Monday, May 29, at 3:00 p.m. CDT.

Vento, Kerr and Coach Jeff Mountain address the media following the win

The folks from @DubJayBaseball chat about their 8-1 win vs. Roanoke, clinching a championship series berth: https://t.co/o7pXwa74TL #d3b

— D3baseball (@d3baseball) May 29, 2017

Photo gallery

Photos from BSB: Washington and Jefferson vs. Roanoke https://t.co/G9zW7n14m9 @d3baseball @wjathletics @RoanokeCollege #d3b

— d3photography.com (@d3photography) May 29, 2017