WASHINGTON, Pa. – The No. 17 Washington & Jefferson baseball team rallied for three runs in the bottom of the eighth to break a 3-3 tie and earn a 6-3 win over nonconference foe Frostburg State on Wednesday, May 3.
 
The Presidents improve to 28-8 overall on the season while the Bobcats fall to 17-19 overall.
 
After surrendering three runs on three hits to the Bobcats in the top of the eighth inning, the W&J rally began in the bottom half of the inning began when Nick Vento (Murrysville, Pa./Franklin Regional) led off with a single to right field, his fourth hit of the afternoon. He then advanced to second on a wild pitch, moved up to third on a single from Frank Fortunato (Canonsburg, Pa./Canon-McMillan) and came in to score on another wild pitch to get the lead back for the Presidents.
 
Mark Merlino (Irwin, Pa./Penn-Trafford) reached first on an error to put runners on first and second before Ryan Sciullo (Vandergrift, Pa./Kiski Area) moved the runners up on a sacrifice bunt. Nick Gatins (North Royalton, Ohio/North Royalton) then brought Fortunato in to score on a sac fly, allowing Merlino to get to third, followed by the third wild pitch of the inning to bring Merlino across home plate to yield the final margin.
 
With two outs and nobody on base in the bottom of the third, Derek Helbing (Pataskala, Ohio/Watkins Memorial) drew a walk and proceeded to steal second base with Vento at bat. With a 1-1 count, Vento singled through the left side to bring Helbing around and give the Presidents a 1-0 lead.
 
In his next at bat, Vento singled to left field with one out and then advanced to third on a single to right from Frank Fortunato before scoring on a wild pitch to extend the W&J lead to 2-0 through six innings.
 
The Presidents tacked on their third run of the game in the seventh inning when Gatins led off with a single through the right side. After Dan Trettel (Wexford, Pa./North Allegheny) sacrificed Gatins to second, Kevin Begley (Allison Park, Pa./Deer Lakes) lined the 1-0 offering into center field to plate Gatins.
 
Vento's 4-for-4 day at the plate gives him 221 hits in his career, tying him with Jim Pasquine (2007-10) for the second most hits in program history while his five total bases in the game puts him at 346 for his career, tied with Josh Staniscia for the most in team history. In addition, his first hit of the game, a ground-rule double to center in the first inning, gave him an even 50 hits on the season, making him just the second player in program history to record 50 or more hits in four consecutive seasons (Staniscia, 2011-14).
 
Sciullo finished the game with a 1-for-3 effort as his lone hit was a triple to left-center field in the second inning, giving him 13 for his career which moved him past Tim Boal, Joe Bogdewiecz and Justin Benson for the second most in school history. His triple was also the fifth of the season, the second straight year in which he has legged out five three-baggers, tying him for fifth most in a single season.
 
Fortunato joined Vento as the only other player with a multi-hit game, finishing 2-for-4 with a run.
 
Santino Platt (Pittsburgh, Pa./OLSH) was the starting pitcher for the game and threw four innings while allowing no runs on one hit with two walks and two strikeouts. Mitchell Taufer (Washington, Pa./Bishop Canevin), Joe Vita (Gibsonia, Pa./Hampton) and Tanner Gaerke (Plain City, Ohio/Jonathan Alder) were the first three pitchers out of the bullpen and each pitched one perfect inning.
 
After Tim Mulvey (Glenshaw, Pa./OLSH) allowed three runs (one earned) in 0.2 innings of work, Helbing entered as the closer and picked up the win (2-0) as he pitched the final 1.1 innings, allowing just one hit with no walks and a strikeout.
 
The Presidents will wrap up their season with a three-game weekend series against Thiel, beginning a game on the road on Friday, May 5, at 4:00 p.m. before returning home for a doubleheader on Saturday, May 6, at 1:00 p.m.