ALLIANCE, Ohio – In the final nonconference doubleheader of the season, the Washington & Jefferson baseball team salvaged a split with an 11-4 win in game two following a 7-6 loss in game one on the road against Mount Union on Tuesday.
 
The Presidents' overall record is now 24-13-1 while the Purple Raiders fell to 20-15 overall with the split.
 
With game two scoreless through two innings, Ryan Sciullo (Vandergrift, Pa./Kiski Area) gave the Presidents their first lead of the game with a no-out two-RBI single. Sciullo advanced to second on the play on an error and proceeded to move to third on a wild pitch before scoring on an RBI groundout by Mark Merlino (Irwin, Pa./Penn-Trafford).
 
After Mount Union scored once in the bottom of the third, Luke Zahren (Ingomar, Pa./North Allegheny) got the run back for W&J with an RBI single down the left-field line to score Dante Dalesandro (Pittsburgh, Pa./Mount Lebanon) who doubled to start the inning. Another run came home for the Presidents in the top of the fifth when Merlino hit a solo home run to left field on a 2-0 pitch.
 
The Purple Raiders responded with two runs in the bottom of the fifth to cut the Presidents' lead to 5-3, before Mullen Socha (Independence, Ohio/St. Ignatius) hit his team-leading fifth home run of the season to left, a two-run blast to push the Presidents ahead by four runs.
 
A Mount Union run was followed by a four-run W&J top of the seventh inning on the strength of a RBI double from Merlino and a three-run home run from Spencer Howell (Oakwood, Ohio/Oakwood), his fourth long ball of the season.
 
Sciullo, Merlino, Dalesandro and Dan Trettel (Wexford, Pa./North Allegheny) all recorded two hits in the game with Merlino and Sciullo driving in three and two runs, respectively.
 
Ben Marsico (Bradfordwoods, Pa./North Allegheny) improved to 5-2 this season after throwing 4.1 innings and allowing three runs (one earned) on eight hits with one walk and a strikeout. Clay Martin (Canonsburg, Pa./Canon-McMillan) pitched 1.2 innings in relief of Marsico, allowing one run on two hits, before Will Bowser (Burgettstown, Pa./Madonna (W.Va.)) closed out the game with a scoreless seventh with a strikeout.
 
In game one, the Presidents struck early as Trettel doubled home Socha in the first inning to take an early 1-0 lead. Two batters later, Merlino singled to bring home Trettel. After a Howell single to third, Dalesandro tripled down the right-field line to bring in two more runs. The first inning scoring was capped off by a Joey Bolick (Gibsonia, Pa./Pine-Richland) sac fly to right, bringing Dalesandro across home plate.
 
The Purple Raiders scored twice in the bottom of the first before W&J's sixth and final run of the game came home in the top of the fourth, courtesy of a RBI single to right off the bat of Zahren.
 
Mount Union took the final lead of the game in the bottom of the fourth, however, scoring five runs on six hits and one W&J error before tossing three more shutout innings to hold on for the 7-6 win.
 
Zahren was the only President with multiple hits in game one, going 2-for-3 at the plate, to lead a group of seven players with at least one hit.
 
Santino Platt (Pittsburgh, Pa./OLSH) was the losing pitcher in game one, allowing seven runs (six earned) over four innings. Mitchell Taufer (Washington, Pa./Bishop Canevin) pitched the final two innings and allowed no runs on no hits with no walks and three strikeouts.
 
The Presidents will close out the 2018 regular season with a doubleheader in Presidents' Athletic Conference play as they travel to Westminster on Saturday, May 5. First pitch for game one is slated for 1:00 p.m.