BEAVER FALLS, Pa. – With 4-1 and 16-7 wins at Geneva on Saturday afternoon, the Washington & Jefferson baseball team has clinched a berth in the 2018 Presidents' Athletic Conference Championship tournament.
 
The sweep of Geneva also reduces the Presidents' magic number to one to clinch the No. 1 seed in the tournament. W&J's overall record now sits at 21-10-1 with a 13-1 conference record, the program's best 14-game start in the PAC since the 2010 team also won 13 of its first 14 league games.
 
In the second inning of game one with runners on second and third and one out, Dante Dalesandro (Pittsburgh, Pa./Mount Lebanon) grounded out to third base, but Mark Merlino (Irwin, Pa./Penn-Trafford) was able to score on the play as the Presidents took an early 1-0 lead.
 
The game remained at a 1-0 W&J advantage until the eighth inning when Merlino scored on a wild pitch that also allowed Justin Griffin (Lombard, Ill./Glenbard East) to move up to third base from second. Dalesandro then came through again with a single to left to drive in Griffin and push the W&J lead to 3-0. In the ninth, Mullen Socha (Independence, Ohio/St. Ignatius) walked to lead off the inning and then stole second and advanced to third on an error before Dan Trettel (Wexford, Pa./North Allegheny) brought him in on a sacrifice fly to center.
 
Geneva ended the Presidents' bid for a shutout with a bases loaded walk in the bottom of the ninth before Will Bowser (Burgettstown, Pa./Madonna (W.Va.)) struck out the final hitter to end the game.
 
W&J's offense finished with five hits in the game but drew seven walks, including three from Socha. Dalesandro finished 1-for-4 with two RBI, Merlino went 1-for-3 with two runs scored and Trettel had one hit in three at-bats and drove in a run.
 
Matt Heslin (McDonald, Pa./Fort Cherry) earned his second win of the season and nearly pitched his second career nine-inning complete game but was relieved after 8.2 innings while allowing one unearned run. He scattered eight hits, did not walk a batter and struck out six before Bowser closed the game for his second save of the season.
 
In game two with the bases loaded and one out in the top of the second, AJ Melvin (Alexandria, Va./West Potomac) singled to left to give the Presidents a 1-0 lead. After Luke Zahren (Ingomar, Pa./North Allegheny) drove in a run on a fielder's choice, Socha singled to left to cap a three-run inning and put W&J out in front.
 
The Golden Tornadoes responded in the bottom of the third with four runs on three hits and a W&J error. But the Presidents were quick to respond as they plated five runs in the next half inning to regain the lead. Melvin represented the first run of the inning, scoring on a balk, before Socha hit another RBI single to left. Two batters later, Merlino doubled to left field, scoring two runs, followed by a sac fly to right off the bat of Spencer Howell (Oakwood, Ohio/Oakwood) two batters later.
 
After the Presidents scored one unearned run in the top of the fifth to run their lead to 9-4, Geneva answered with a two-run home run in the bottom half of the inning to pull to within three runs.
 
The score held at 9-6 until the eighth when, with the bases loaded and two outs, Ryan Sciullo (Vandergrift, Pa./Kiski Area) scored from third on a passed ball followed by a two-run double to right off the bat of Dalesandro. The fourth run of the inning and 13th of the game came in one batter later when Ryan Willen (Pepper Pike, Ohio/Orange) singled to center to score Dalesandro.
 
W&J added three more runs in the top of the ninth inning on a two-RBI single to center from Griffin and a one-run base knock to left from Dalesandro before Geneva scored the final run of the game in the bottom of the ninth inning.
 
Socha and Howell both had three hits to lead the Presidents' offense in game two with Socha scoring twice and driving in two runs while Howell scored twice and drove in one run. Dalesandro and Melvin also had multi-hit games, Dalesandro going 2-for-5 with three RBI and two runs and Melvin scoring once and batting in another. Merlino had one hit, walked twice and scored a career-high four times. In total, nine W&J hitters had a hit in the game, eight drove in at least one run and nine scored at least once.
 
Tanner Gaerke (Plain City, Ohio/Jonathan Alder) got the start in game two and received a no decision after tossing 4.1 innings and allowing two earned runs (six total) on seven hits with two walks and two strikeouts. Garrett Harstine (New Philadelphia, Ohio/New Philadelphia) was first out of the W&J bullpen and pitched 1.2 innings, all outs via strikeout, and allowed just one walk.
 
Mitchell Taufer (Washington, Pa./Bishop Canevin) followed with one perfect inning with a strikeout before Clay Martin (Canonsburg, Pa./Canon-McMillan) pitched a scoreless eighth inning, allowing just one hit and fanning two hitters. Bowser closed and allowed one run on one hit but recorded all three outs as strikeouts to end the game.
 
The Presidents will return home for their next game as they will face Baldwin Wallace on Tuesday, April 24, in a 6:00 p.m. nonconference showdown.