WASHINGTON, Pa. – Sophomore shortstop
Jacob LaDuca's (Clarence, N.Y./Canisius) led off the 10th inning with a solo home run to propel the Washington & Jefferson College baseball team into the Presidents' Athletic Conference finals. The home run finished off a 4-3 comeback victory for the Presidents over second seeded Grove City in tournament action Friday afternoon at Ross Memorial Park.
The dramatic opposite field blast gave W&J's its 11th straight win in Presidents' Athletic Conference Tournament play. The win was the 30th of the season for W&J. The Presidents have reached 30 wins in 12 different seasons during head coach
Jeff Mountain's tenure.
W&J (30-12) advances into Saturday's title round versus Saint Vincent. The Bearcats won a pair of games Friday to stave off elimination. Saint Vincent downed Grove City in an elimination game Friday evening to advance to the title round.
First pitch between the Presidents and Bearcats is scheduled for 1 p.m. Saturday at Ross Memorial Park. W&J needs just one win Saturday to claim its fourth-straight PAC title and 15th in program history. Saint Vincent will need to win twice to claim its first-ever PAC title.
Grove City took a 1-0 lead on an RBI single by Shane Cato in the top of the second inning. The Wolverines extended their lead to 3-0 in the fifth inning. Grove City took advantage of a hit by pitch and a throwing error to score twice in the fifth.
W&J loaded the bases in both the second and fifth innings but came away empty handed.
The Presidents bats finally came through in the bottom of the sixth inning. W&J evened the score with three runs on four hits in the frame.
Sam Schuster (Fairport Harbor, Ohio/Fairport Harding) ripped a RBI double off the right field fence to score
Scout Zaas (Powell, Ohio / Wellington School).
Following a walk and a pitching change,
Tyler Horvat (Irwin, Pa./Penn Trafford) connected on a sac fly to score LaDuca and cut the deficit to 3-2.
Trevor Dean (San Diego, Calif. / Rancho Bernardo) followed with a clutch two-out RBI single to left field that scored Schuster to tie the score at 3-3.
Both teams put runners on base in the ninth inning but neither team could push a run across, and the game headed to extra innings.
Grove City drew a pair of walks to lead off the top of the 10th inning. However, a double play lineout and a groundout ended the threat.
That set the stage for LaDuca, who launched the 1-0 pitch just over the right field fence to provide the game-winning run for the Presidents.
The home run was the second of season and third of LaDuca's collegiate career.
W&J's pitching rose to the occasion in Friday's winner's bracket final game.
Nate Nolan (McDonald, Pa./West Allegheny), just a freshman, allowed three runs (two earned) in five innings of work.
Mason Kolbe (Bradenton, Fla./Out-Of-Door Academy) tossed four scoreless innings of relief out of the W&J bullpen. The four innings was the longest outing of Kolbe's collegiate career. He struck out four and allowed just two hits.
Dante DiMatteo (Pittsburgh, Pa./Fox Chapel) worked out of trouble in the 10th inning and picked up the win to improve to 2-0.
Schuster collected three hits to pace the offense. Dean, Zaas, and LaDuca each finished with two hits in the victory.
