KISSIMMEE, Fla. -- For the third straight game, Washington & Jefferson baseball was held to one run, falling to No. 18 nationally-ranked UMass Boston, 10-1, on Thursday, March 14, in Kissimmee, Fla. 

With the loss, the Red & Black drop to 3-4 overall this season and to 1-4 in their Florida trip. After a rough start to the season, the Beacons have won two of their last three games and are 3-4 on the year. 

The Presidents did not notch their first hit in the game until the bottom of the fifth inning, when Nick Guercio (Cabot, Pa./Knoch) slapped a two-out double down the right-field line.  Unfortunately for W&J, Guercio would not score, as UMass Boston got a strikeout two batters later. 

The Red & Black earned their only run in the bottom of the eighth, with Adam Jaworski (Canonsburg, Pa./Peters Township) driving home Guercio from third with a bases-loaded sacrifice fly. The would be the final run of the frame, as the Beacons struck out two of the next three batters.  

On the mound, Tanner Gaerke (Plain City, Ohio/Jonathan Alder) represented himself well by allowing five runs, four earned, over 5.1 innings. He struck out four opposing hitters and allowed just one run over the first four innings. 

Both Brach Herzig (Pittsburgh, Pa./Avonworth) and Nolan Kosh (Belle Vernon, Pa./Yough) made their first pitching appearances of the season today. Both juniors went 1.0 innings, with Kosh recording two strikeouts. 

Guercio paced the Presidents with a 2-for-3 day from the plate, his first two hits of the year. Today's game was Guercio's first career multi-hit game. 

Also tallying hits were Jason Gregovits (Avon Lake, Ohio/Avon Lake) and Alec Jackson (Hudson, Ohio/Hudson) with pinch-hit singles. 

W&J's spring trip comes to a close tomorrow with a 10:30 a.m. twin bill against UW-Stevens Point.