ANNVILLE, Pa. – The 24th ranked Washington & Jefferson College baseball team split a pair of games Saturday at the NCAA Regionals hosted by Lebanon Valley College in Annville, Pa. W&J fell 14-7 in the opener to 10th ranked Rowan University before bouncing back with a 13-6 victory against Mitchell later in the day.
W&J now holds a 37-9 overall record. The 37 wins are tied for the third most in program history. The Presidents will face Rowan in Sunday's Championship round. W&J will have to beat the Profs twice to win the regional. Rowan needs just one win on Sunday to advance to Super Regionals. First pitch for game one will be at 10 a.m.
#10 Rowan 14, #24 W&J 7 (NCAA Regional - Winner's Bracket Final)
Rowan, ranked No. 10 in the nation, tallied seven runs over its final two at bats to break open a close game late in a 14-7 win over W&J in the winner's bracket final Saturday afternoon. The Profs improve to 32-8 overall and advance to Sunday's regional championship round.
A one-out triple by Ryan Murphy and a subsequent infield RBI single by Patrick Defeciani gave the Profs an early 1-0 lead after the top of the first.
Rowan added to its lead in the top of the second inning. Four consecutive Profs reached base, which included an RBI single by Tyler Cannon that made it 2-0. However,
Jameson Campbell (Painesville, Ohio/Riverside) escaped further damage as he induced an inning-ending double play.
The Presidents put up three runs in the bottom of the frame to take their first lead of the day. W&J took advantage of an erratic Jason O'Neill, who walked the bases loaded. The Presidents first run was scored by
Evan Sante (Pittsburgh, Pa./Plum), who scampered home on a wild pitch. Later in the inning,
Tyler Horvat (Irwin, Pa./Penn-Trafford) delivered a two-run double with two outs to give W&J a 3-2 lead.
W&J tacked on another run in the bottom of the third inning when
Nate Rush (Wheeling, W.Va./The Linsly School) and Kalinski singled to start the inning. A sac fly by Sante stretched the lead to 4-2.
Rowan took the lead with a big fifth inning. The first six batters of the inning reached as the Profs pushed five runs across in the frame to take a 7-4 lead.
Trevor Dean (San Diego, Calif./Rancho Bernardo) launched a solo home run in the bottom of the sixth inning to trim the deficit to 7-5.
W&J seemed poised to tie the score in the bottom of the seventh. The Red and Black loaded the bases with no outs. However, they settled for just one run as Sante brought home Horvat on a sac fly down the left field line. W&J stranded a pair of runners on base and trailed Rowan 7-6 after seven innings.
The Profs put the game away with four runs in the eighth and three more runs in the ninth.
Rush finished with a team-high three hits. Samson and Horvat finished with two hits apiece. Horvat and Sante had two RBI each.
Campbell suffered the loss as he allowed seven runs in four innings.
Ethan Marszalek (Katy, Texas/Seven Lakes) tossed three scoreless innings of relief out of the bullpen.
#24 W&J 13, Mitchell 6 (NCAA Regional - Elimination Game)
W&J tallied 13 runs on 21 hits in Saturday evening's elimination game to beat Mitchell by a 13-6 score and keep its season alive. Six Presidents recorded at least two hits in the victory over the Mariners.
The Presidents opened up an early lead with four runs on four hits in the top of the first inning. Dean, Jacob La Duca (Clarence, N.Y./Canisius) and
Joe Lehner (Painesville, Ohio/Lake Catholic) all produced RBI hits in the first as W&J took an early 4-0 advantage.
W&J was quick to add to its lead, as they slugged a pair of home runs during a five-run second inning.
Peter Kalinski (Washington, D.C. / Saint John's College) smacked a three-run home run and two batters later Dean went deep for the second time Saturday. Dean's home run gave W&J a 9-0 cushion.
Sante singled and scored on a RBI single by LaDuca that made the lead 10-0 in the top of the fourth. Mitchell scored two runs on two hits and two errors to get on the board in the bottom of the inning, cutting the deficit to 10-2.
After Mitchell tallied a run in the bottom of the fifth, W&J pushed three more runs across in the top of the sixth to take a 13-3 lead. LaDuca added another RBI hit and Horvat laced a two-run single to right in the frame. Mitchell scored a run in the seventh and two in the ninth to close the scoring.
Shane Fox (Valencia, Pa./Mars Area) tossed six strong innings to improve to 4-0, Fox allowed three runs on six hits. He struck out three and walked three.
Dean finished with three hits, three runs scored and three RBI. LaDuca had three hits and three RBi.
The W&J senior class has compiled an 18-5 record in postseason play.
