WASHINGTON, Pa. – The No. 17 Washington & Jefferson baseball team defeated Thiel in game one, 19-2, before falling in the second game, 6-5, on Saturday afternoon, May 6, in Presidents' Athletic Conference action.
 
The doubleheader split with Thiel moves the Presidents' record to 29-9 overall with a 20-3 conference mark as Thiel is now 21-16 overall and 13-10 in league play.
 
In the first inning of game one, Frank Fortunato (Canonsburg, Pa./Canon-McMillan) doubled to right-center field to plate Kevin Begley (Allison Park, Pa./Deer Lakes) and Nick Vento (Murrysville, Pa./Franklin Regional) to take a 2-0 lead. After Jake Gordon (Hatfield, Pa./Pennridge) was hit by a pitch and Ryan Sciullo (Vandergrift, Pa./Kiski Area) singled, Nick Gatins (North Royalton, Ohio/North Royalton) proceeded to clear the bases with a double to left field, extending the lead to 5-0.
 
Gatins came in to score on a fielder's choice before the Presidents tacked on their seventh run of the inning to build a strong lead heading to the second.
 
Gordon hit a two-run home run to straightaway center field in the second inning while Zak Keesee (Howard, Ohio/Ridgewood) contributed an RBI single to increase the Presidents a 10-0 lead after two innings. In the third, Derek Helbing (Pataskala, Ohio/Watkins Memorial) scored from third on a balk, which also moved Vento from second to third, before Gordon launched his second home run in as many at bats, pushing the W&J lead to 13-1.
 
The Presidents proceeded to score once in the fourth, twice in the fifth and three times in the sixth inning before Thiel put its second run on the board in the top of the seventh to close the scoring in the game.
 
In game two, W&J took the first lead of the game again when Gatins was able to score from third on a throwing error by the Tomcats. After Thiel got that run back in the top of the third inning, Helbing singled to through the left side to drive home Gatins who tripled in the prior at bat.
 
Thiel responded by scoring five runs on five hits in the top of the fifth inning to seize a 6-2 lead, but the Presidents answered back in the bottom of the fifth as Vento drove in a run with a ground out followed by consecutive two-out RBI singles from Mark Merlino (Irwin, Pa./Penn-Trafford) and Sciullo, cutting the deficit to just 6-5.
 
The Tomcats worked out of a jam in the bottom of the sixth before working through a perfect seventh inning to finish the game.
 
Gatins led the offense on the day, picking up three hits in both games and going a perfect 3-for-3 at the plate in game two to go along with six runs scored and three RBI. Gordon, Sciullo and Helbing each collected three hits between the two games, with Sciullo driving in two runs, while the trio combined to score seven times. Keesee finished game one 4-for-4 at the plate with two RBI and a run.
 
Vento (0-for-4) saw his 21-game hitting streak come to an end in game two. In game one, however, he singled in his first at-bat to break the W&J all-time total bases record (347), breaking a tie with Josh Staniscia (2011-14), and to move into sole possession of second place on the program's all-time hit list (222), breaking a tie with Jim Pasquine (2007-10).
 
Riley Groves (Louisville, Ohio/Louisville) (7-2) picked up the win on the mound in game one after throwing five innings and allowing just one earned run on two hits with two walks and five strikeouts. Joe Vita (Gibsonia, Pa./Hampton) pitched the sixth and seventh innings and allowed one run on two hits with no walks.
 
In game two, Trevor Kerr (Orrville, Ohio/Orrville) suffered just his third loss of the season (5-3) after allowing four runs on four hits in 4.0+ innings of work. After Tim Mulvey (Glenshaw, Pa./OLSH) surrendered two runs on three hits in one inning, Will Bowser (Burgettstown, Pa./Madonna (W.Va.)) and Helbing pitched the sixth and seventh innings, respectively, and combined to allow one baserunner while striking out two hitters.
 
The Presidents will close out their regular season with a single nine-inning game on Sunday, May 7, at Thiel starting at 4:00 p.m.