WASHINGTON, Pa. -- The top-seeded Washington & Jefferson baseball team suffered a 4-2 loss against fourth-seeded Saint Vincent in the opening round of the 2018 Presidents' Athletic Conference Baseball Championship Tournament at Ross Memorial Park.
 
With the loss, the Presidents fall into the loser's bracket and will take on third-seeded Thiel, who was handed a 4-3 defeat by second-seeded Thomas More, at 3 p.m. on Friday, May 11. W&J's overall record drops to 25-15-1, while the Bearcats, who will play Thomas More at 12 p.m. on Friday, improves to 15-19.
 
After the Bearcats took the first lead of the game with one run in the top of the third inning, Dante Dalesandro (Pittsburgh, Pa./Mount Lebanon) swung at the first pitch of the bottom of the inning and sent it over the right-field fence for his first career home run.
 
With two outs in the bottom of the fourth, Dan Trettel (Wexford, Pa./North Allegheny) singled up the middle and advanced to second on a single to left by Spencer Howell (Oakwood, Ohio/Oakwood). Justin Griffin (Lombard, Ill./Glenbard East) followed with a single to center to give W&J the lead, bringing Trettel across home plate.
 
The Bearcats responded with three runs on five hits and an error in the top of the fifth to take a 4-2 lead and close the scoring in the game.
 
Trettel, Howell, Ryan Sciullo (Vandergrift, Pa./Kiski Area) and Mullen Socha (Independence, Ohio/St. Ignatius) each recorded two singles in the game. Dalesandro's home run was the only W&J extra-base hit in the contest.
 
Ben Marsico (Bradfordwoods, Pa./North Allegheny) tossed 5.2 innings and allowed four earned runs and struck out five in taking the loss. Santino Platt (Pittsburgh, Pa./OLSH) tossed three scoreless innings in relief of Marsico and did not allow a hit or a run while striking out three before Clay Martin (Canonsburg, Pa./Canon-McMillan) struck out the final Saint Vincent hitter of the game on three pitches.
 
The loss to the Bearcats snaps a nine-game winning streak for the Presidents in the series and it is the second time Saint Vincent has upset W&J in the opening round of the PAC Championship Tournament as the four-seed (7-4 loss in 2012).