WASHINGTON, Pa. – With 5-1 and 2-0 wins in a Presidents' Athletic Conference doubleheader, the Washington & Jefferson baseball team has clinched home field advantage for the upcoming PAC Championship Tournament.
 
With the sweep, the Presidents' overall record now sits at 23-11-1 with a 15-1 PAC record, tied for the most wins through the first 16 conference games since the 2010 team won 15 of its first 16 league matchups.
 
The 5-1 game one win was led by Bryce Schnatterly (Cranberry Township, Pa./Seneca Valley) who improved to 6-0 on the mound this season after tossing 6.1 innings and allowing no runs while scattering seven hits with one walk and a career-high tying eight strikeouts. His sixth win this season gives him 21 in his career, tying him with Mike Trumpower (2004-07) for the fifth most wins in program history.
 
The game remained scoreless through three and a half innings before Mark Merlino (Irwin, Pa./Penn-Trafford) launched his second home run of the season over the right field fence with Dan Trettel (Wexford, Pa./North Allegheny) on base to give the Presidents a 2-0 lead. In the next inning, Mullen Socha (Independence, Ohio/St. Ignatius) doubled with two outs and came in to score when Trettel singled up the middle.
 
In the seventh inning with two outs and a runner on, Socha lifted a two-run home run over the left field fence to extend the lead to 5-0, his team-leading fourth long ball of the season.
 
The Wolverines got on the board with one unearned run in the top of ninth on two hits and one error.
 
Socha led the way with three hits in game one to go along with two RBI and two runs scored. Trettel went 2-for-4 with a RBI and a run while Merlino, Ryan Willen (Pepper Pike, Ohio/Orange) and Dante Dalesandro (Pittsburgh, Pa./Mount Lebanon) each recorded one hit.
 
Clay Martin (Canonsburg, Pa./Canon-McMillan) relieved Schnatterly in the seventh inning and closed out the final 2.2 innings and allowed one unearned run on four hits with two strikeouts to earn his first career save.
 
In game two, Tucker Burg (North Wales, Pa./North Penn) pitched a scoreless first inning before Matt Heslin (McDonald, Pa./Fort Cherry) took over for the next 7.0 innings. Heslin earned his third win of the season after allowing no runs on three hits with three walks and three strikeouts. Will Bowser (Burgettstown, Pa./Madonna (W.Va.)) closed out the contest with two strikeouts in the ninth to nail down his third save of the season.
 
Game two also saw no score through the first three and a half innings. In the bottom of the fourth, Trettel led off with a walk and proceeded to advance to second on a wild pitch. After moving up to third on a fly out, Trettel came home on a RBI ground out from Merlino.
 
The Presidents added their second run of the game in the fifth inning when Spencer Howell (Oakwood, Ohio/Oakwood) scored on a wild pitch.
 
W&J was limited to three hits in game two with Merlino, Howell and Dalesandro tallying the base knocks.

The Presidents will return to the diamond on Sunday, April 29, for a nonconference game against Point Park beginning at 12:00 p.m.