WASHINGTON, Pa. – In a game that featured five lead changes, the Washington & Jefferson baseball team emerged victorious over Thomas More, 8-7, to force the "if necessary" game of the 2018 Presidents' Athletic Conference Baseball Championship Tournament.
 
The Presidents and Saints will face-off in the winner-take-all game today at 5:30 p.m. at Ross Memorial Park.
 
With the score tied, 7-7, heading into the bottom of the seventh inning after the Saints scored once in the top of the seventh, Dan Trettel (Wexford, Pa./North Allegheny) led off the inning and was hit by a pitch before advancing to second base on a passed ball. After a single from Spencer Howell (Oakwood, Ohio/Oakwood) advanced Trettel to third, Trettel scored the go-ahead run and final run of the game on a ground ball double play during the next at-bat.
 
Clay Martin (Canonsburg, Pa./Canon-McMillan), who entered the game in relief in the sixth inning, pitched scoreless eighth and ninth innings to earn his first win of the season. Martin finished with a line of 3.2 innings, one hit, one earned run, no walks and four strikeouts.
 
The Saints struck for five innings in the top of the fifth on three hits and an error to take a 6-5 lead before the Presidents' bats came alive again in the bottom of the sixth. Dante Dalesandro (Pittsburgh, Pa./Mount Lebanon) began the frame with a triple to left-center field, and scored to tie the game two batters later on a sac fly to right from Luke Zahren (Ingomar, Pa./North Allegheny).
 
Mullen Socha (Independence, Ohio/St. Ignatius) followed with a double down the left-field line, forcing a pitching change, before he came around to score when Mark Merlino (Irwin, Pa./Penn-Trafford) singled to right field, giving W&J a 7-6 lead.
 
Thomas More scored first in the game, plating one run on two hits in the first inning, before the Presidents scratched a run across home on an error in the bottom of the second. Merlino then gave W&J its first lead of the game with a two-out solo home run to right center in the bottom of the second, his fourth long ball of the year.
 
Each of the first three hitters reached base for the Presidents to begin the bottom of the fourth inning before Dalesandro laced a 3-1 pitch down the left field line for a two-RBI double. With Justin Griffin (Lombard, Ill./Glenbard East) now standing on third after the double, Adam Jaworski (Canonsburg, Pa./Peters Township) recorded a RBI ground out, giving the Presidents a 5-1 lead.
 
Trettel was a perfect 3-for-3 at the plate with a double and two runs scored. Dalesandro and Merlino both had a pair of knocks and every W&J starting hitter had at least one hit.
 
Santino Platt (Pittsburgh, Pa./OLSH) started on the mound for the Presidents and tossed 4.0 innings, allowing six runs (three earned) on six hits with no walks and two strikeouts. Mitchell Taufer (Washington, Pa./Bishop Canevin) was first out of the bullpen for W&J and pitched 1.1 scoreless innings before Martin entered.