PITTSBURGH – Three La Roche runs in the bottom of the ninth tied the game before the game was called due to darkness as the Washington & Jefferson baseball team tied the 21st-ranked Redhawks, 13-13, in nonconference action on Thursday, April 12.
 
The tie marks the second such result to a game under head coach Jeff Mountain and the first since tying Division I Duquesne, 7-7, on May 6, 2008. The Presidents' record now sits at 15-9-1 in 2018.
 
With W&J leading by a 13-10 margin and two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, the Redhawks rallied for three runs to tie the game before a strikeout with a runner on second ended the contest.
 
The Presidents expanded their lead by one run to 13-10 in the top of the ninth when Spencer Howell (Oakwood, Ohio/Oakwood) drew a bases loaded walk and bring Dan Trettel (Wexford, Pa./North Allegheny) across home plate.
 
In the top of the fifth inning and trailing by a run, Trettel led off by reaching base on an error and scored two batters later courtesy of a double to left field from Mark Merlino (Irwin, Pa./Penn-Trafford) to tie the game at 4-4.
 
La Roche responded with a five-run bottom of the fifth, compiling two hits and taking advantage of two W&J errors to gain a 9-4 advantage.
 
But the Presidents wasted no time in responding as Luke Zahren (Ingomar, Pa./North Allegheny) (single) and Mullen Socha (Independence, Ohio/St. Ignatius) (hit by pitch) reached base to start the top of the sixth. Trettel, Ryan Sciullo (Vandergrift, Pa./Kiski Area), Merlino, Justin Griffin (Lombard, Ill./Glenbard East) and Howell all recorded consecutive hits to bring in one RBI each and tie the game, 9-9.
 
Howell's single forced a pitching change before Dante Dalesandro (Pittsburgh, Pa./Mount Lebanon) drew a walk to load the bases. AJ Melvin (Alexandria, Va./West Potomac) then lifted a sacrifice fly to left field to give the Presidents a 10-9 lead. After Zahren was hit by a pitch, Socha grounded into a fielder's choice which allowed Howell to come across home plate and move Dalesandro to third, who then scored on a passed ball in the next at-bat to cap the scoring in the inning.
 
Each of the first three batters for W&J reached to lead off the game before Merlino hit a sac fly to right field to score Socha and give the Presidents the first lead of the game. Griffin proceeded to single to left field and bring Trettel home as the Presidents secured an early 2-0 lead.
 
La Roche scored three runs on two hits in the bottom of the second to take its first lead of the game before Griffin doubled to right in the top of the third inning to score Sciullo who walked with one out in the inning.
 
Griffin had a team-high three hits in four at-bats and tied Merlino for the team high in RBI (3). Merlino and Trettel both had two hits, with Trettel scoring a career-high four runs. Howell was the third of three Presidents to drive in multiple runs, finishing with two RBI to go along with three walks.
 
The Presidents' offense has produced double-digit runs in four of the last seven games and has finished seven of the last eight contests with 10 or more hits.
 
W&J will return to Presidents' Athletic Conference action on Saturday, April 14, with a home doubleheader against Chatham, with first pitch of game one slated for 1:00 p.m.