WASHINGTON, Pa. -- The 17th ranked Washington & Jefferson College baseball team opened the 2022 campaign with a doubleheader sweep of visiting Mount Union in non-conference action Sunday afternoon at Ross Memorial Park. The Presidents held on in game one for a 4-3 victory before overcoming an early deficit to take game two by an 8-5 score to complete the sweep. 

Game 1 - W&J 4, Mount Union 3 

W&J starting pitcher Henry Litman (Marietta, Ga./Walton) escaped an early jam, as the senior stranded a pair of Mount Union runners in scoring position. All three first inning outs recorded by Litman were strikeouts. 

The Presidents jumped on the Purple Raiders in the bottom of the frame, as the Red and Black took advantage of a pair of walks to strike first. Sophomore outfielder Roman Samson (Tampa, Fla./Berkeley Prep) tripled to center field to score Logan Scheider (McDonald, Pa./West Allegheny) and Peter Kalinski (Washington, D.C./Saint John's College) to give W&J an early 2-0 advantage. 

Senior shortstop Nate Rush (Wheeling, W.Va./The Linsly School) extended the lead to 3-0 when his infield single scored freshman Scout Zaas (Powell, Ohio/The Wellington School in the fifth inning. Mount Union cracked the scoreboard with a single run in the top of the sixth. However, Samson led off the bottom of the frame with a solo home run over the left field fence to make it 4-1 Presidents. 

Mount Union made things interesting in the top of the seventh. The visitors plated a pair of runs on three hits to trim the deficit to 4-3. W&J was able to induce a groundout to nail down the victory. 

Litman tossed five shutout innings to record the victory. He struck out six and walked just one. Samson and Rush each recorded multi-hit efforts for W&J in the opener. 

Game 2 - W&J 8, Mount Union 5

Mount Union built a 4-0 lead in the nightcap, as the visitors scored a run each in the first and second innings before adding two more in the third. 

The W&J bats came alive in the bottom of the third inning. The Presidents scored five runs on just two hits to claim a 5-4 advantage. Senior Alec Jackson (Hudson, Ohio/Hudson) and sophomore Connor Helm (Murrysville, Pa./Franklin Regional) walked and singled, respectively, to open the inning. Junior outfielder Evan Sante (Pittsburgh, Pa./Plum) delivered a go-ahead grand slam. The slam was Sante's fifth career home run. 

A solo home run by Mount Union's Trey Weaver tied the score at 5-5 in the fifth inning. However, W&J quickly regained the lead in the bottom of the fifth, as Sante came through agin. His two-run double scored Rush and Kalinski to make it 7-5 Presidents. A sacrifice fly by freshman catcher Knox Meier (Tampa, Fla./Berkeley Prep) extended the W&J lead to three runs. 

Sophomore Jackson Denney (Atlanta, Ga./Mount Vernon Presbyterian) tossed 2.1 innings of relief to earn the victory. Freshman Dante DiMatteo (Pittsburgh, Pa./Fox Chapel) pitched 2.0 scoreless innings to pick up his first collegiate save. 

Sante finished with three hits, six RBI and two runs scored to lead the offense in game two. 

W&J hosts Case Western Reserve for a non-conference doubleheader on Saturday, Feb. 26.