AUBURNDALE, Fla. – A three-run top of the seventh inning propelled the No. 3/5 Washington & Jefferson baseball team to a doubleheader split with SUNY New Paltz to open the 2018 RussMatt Invitational in Auburndale, Fla., on Sunday, March 18.
 
The Presidents claimed game two of the twinbill by a score of 6-5 after falling by a 10-5 margin to the Hawks in game one.
 
In game two, the Presidents trailed SUNY New Paltz 4-3 entering the top of the seventh inning. With two outs, Luke Zahren (Ingomar, Pa./North Allegheny) entered as a pinch hitter and kept the game alive with a single through the left side. Mullen Socha (Independence, Ohio/St. Ignatius) followed with a single to left field of his own before Dan Trettel (Wexford, Pa./North Allegheny) walked to load the bases.
 
Ryan Sciullo (Vandergrift, Pa./Kiski Area) then dropped a blooper just beyond the reach of the Hawks' shortstop, bringing in Zahren and Socha to take a 5-4 lead. After Mark Merlino (Irwin, Pa./Penn-Trafford) was hit by a pitch, Trettel came home when the SUNY New Paltz catcher threw down to second base on a pick-off attempt of Sciullo.
 
In the bottom of the seventh inning, Will Bowser (Burgettstown, Pa./Madonna (W.Va.)) came in to close and earned his first save of the season, second of his career, despite allowing a run.
 
Socha led the game off with a walk and moved up to second base on a single through the left side from Trettel. Two batters later, Socha crossed home plate on a single to right by Merlino to get the Presidents on the board.
 
In the top of the second inning, Spencer Howell (Oakwood, Ohio/Oakwood) doubled the W&J lead to two runs when he blasted a 1-0 pitch over the left field fence for his first career home run.
 
The Hawks tied the game up with two runs on three hits in the bottom of the fourth inning, before the Presidents regained the lead at 3-2 in the top of the fifth inning. Adam Jaworski (Canonsburg, Pa./Peters Township) doubled down the left field line with one out and then scored two batters later when Trettel singled to left.
 
SUNY New Paltz responded by scoring one run in both the fifth and sixth innings to head into the seventh inning with a 4-3 lead.
 
With game one favoring W&J at 5-3 entering the sixth inning, SUNY New Paltz's offense erupted for seven runs on seven hits to take a 10-5 lead. The Presidents tried to rally in the bottom of the seventh by loading the bases with one out, but a ground ball double play ended the game before any runs could come across.
 
After the Hawks scored once in the top of the first, Socha was hit by a pitch and proceeded to steal second before Trettel singled up the middle to tie the game. Like Socha, Trettel swiped second base and then advanced to third on a Sciullo single to right. W&J took its first lead of the game during the next at-bat when Trettel raced home on a wild pitch.
 
James Artale (Chagrin Falls, Ohio/Kenston) walked on four pitches to open the bottom of the fourth inning and moved up to second base when Dante Dalesandro (Pittsburgh, Pa./Mount Lebanon) was hit by a pitch. The next hitter was Howell who put together an eight-pitch at-bat that ended in a single to left, allowing Artale to score to increase the Presidents' lead to 3-1.
 
SUNY New Paltz answered back with two runs in the top of the fifth inning to tie the game before W&J scored twice more on two hits in the bottom of the inning to regain the lead, 5-3.
 
Trettel led the way for the W&J offense, going 5-for-6 over the two games with an RBI and a run scored in both games. Socha finished the day with four hits and reached base in 6-of-8 plate appearances in addition to scoring four runs and stealing two bases.
 
Merlino had a multi-hit game in game one, going 2-for-3 with an RBI and a walk before notching one hit and one RBI in game two.
 
Santino Platt (Pittsburgh, Pa./OLSH) was the starting pitcher in game two and earned a no decision after going 4.2 innings and allowing three runs on eight hits with two walks and two strikeouts. Mitchell Taufer (Washington, Pa./Bishop Canevin) improved to 2-0 this year as the junior righty tossed 1.1 innings following Platt and allowed one unearned run on one hit with two strikeouts.
 
In game one, Bryce Schnatterly (Cranberry Township, Pa./Seneca Valley) received a no decision by going 5.0 innings and allowing five runs (three earned). Garrett Harstine (New Philadelphia, Ohio/New Philadelphia) (0-1) was the losing pitcher with 0.2 innings of work. Clay Martin (Canonsburg, Pa./Canon-McMillan) closed out the opener by going 1.1 innings and allowed one hit with one strikeout.

The team set a season high with five stolen bases in the first game of the day.
 
The Presidents will be back for another doubleheader on Monday, March 19, and will open the day against Wisconsin-Oshkosh at 9:00 a.m. before taking on Centre (Ky.) at 1:00 p.m. in Auburndale, Fla.