WASHINGTON, Pa. – The Washington & Jefferson baseball team advanced to the Presidents' Athletic Conference Championship Round with a 15-2 victory over Saint Vincent in Game E of the Tournament on Friday, May 11.
 
With the win, the Presidents move to 27-15-1 while the Bearcats conclude their season with a record of 15-21.
 
W&J picked up where it left off in its earlier game of the day, scoring seven runs in the first inning. Mullen Socha (Independence, Ohio/St. Ignatius) led off with a single and then scored on a double by Mark Merlino (Irwin, Pa./Penn-Trafford). Dan Trettel (Wexford, Pa./North Allegheny) then singled in Merlino two batters later and moved to third on a base hit from Justin Griffin (Lombard, Ill./Glenbard East).
 
The Presidents then took advantage of two Bearcat errors, turning the defensive miscues into three runs, before Socha concluded the scoring in the inning with his second hit of the frame, a two-run double to left center to give W&J an early 7-0 lead.
 
With Trettel on third base and one out, Griffin singled through the left side for the only RBI hit of the inning. However, two more runs came in before the end of the frame on a fielder's choice and an error as W&J went ahead 10-0 through two innings.
 
The score then held until the top of the fifth, when Socha tripled in a run and then scored on an error in the next at-bat. Another run came in the next inning when Ryan Willen (Pepper Pike, Ohio/Orange) doubled and then was plated on a double from Evan Hannan (Belle Vernon, Pa./Belle Vernon).
 
After conceding two runs, one in the sixth and one in the eighth, the Presidents earned the final two runs in the top of the ninth inning on an Adam Jaworski (Canonsburg, Pa./Peters Township) two-run double to left center, cementing the lead at 15-2.
 
Matt Heslin (McDonald, Pa./Fort Cherry) earned the win with 5.0 innings of scoreless baseball, giving up two hits while fanning a pair of batters. The trio of Nick Drake (Canonsburg, Pa./Canon-McMillian), James Trainor (Canonsburg, Pa./Canon-McMillian) and Tucker Burg (North Wales, Pa./North Penn) combined to finish the game, allowing only five hits and two runs while Drake and Trainor also struck out one apiece.
 
Socha, Trettel, and Griffin led the team with three hits and two runs each. Nine other Presidents tallied a hit to add to the 18-hit total, a season high and the most in a game since pounding out 18 hits in the opening round win against Misericordia in the 2017 NCAA Division III Mideast Regional. Willen and Joey Bolick (Gibsonia, Pa./Pine-Richland) also each added two runs. Socha also knocked in a game-high three RBI, while Jaworksi and Merlino each plated a pair.
 
The Presidents will need to win twice on Saturday, May 12, in order to clinch the PAC title with game one against Thomas More beginning at 12:30 p.m. and the "if necessary" game scheduled for 30 minutes after the conclusion of game one.