By: Jack Sacco, Student Sports Information Assistant
WASHINGTON, Pa. – The Washington & Jefferson College baseball team is scheduled to begin its season at home against La Roche on Wednesday (Feb. 25).
After falling short in the Presidents' Athletic Conference Tournament last season, head coach
Jeff Mountain looks to bounce back to the lofty heights set in the first 23 years of his career. Last season marked the first completed season since 2018 that did not result in an NCAA Tournament appearance and PAC Championship for the Presidents.
2025 Season Review - W&J concluded the season with a 28-15 record and a 16-4 mark in conference play. The Presidents season had a promising start, with the team standing at 20-5 through 25 games. However, the Red & Black cooled off down the stretch, going 8-10 after that, including a 1-5 skid to end the regular season.
"Obviously, 2024-25 was disappointing given what the expectations are here on an annual basis. We lost our way as the year went on," Mountain said. "Since our season ended, we had a lot of difficult conversations as coaches as to where we went wrong and failed the players and listened to feedback from returning players and have been working to move past but never forget 2025 and work at improving in 2026."
The non-conference slate saw W&J claim impressive victories over a trio of teams that clinched NCAA Tournament bids. On February 26, the Presidents held off a late Mount Union rally to win 5-4. The Purple Raiders went on to serve as a host in the NCAA Regionals. Later in the season on April 10, W&J rolled to a 14-6 win over eventual-OAC-champion Baldwin Wallace. A doubleheader sweep over Marymount, who went on to win the Atlantic East conference, highlighted a 5-1 trip to the RussMatt Invitational in Florida.
In conference play, the Presidents secured sweeps over Geneva, Thiel, Waynesburg, Grove City, Saint Vincent, Allegheny, and Franciscan. W&J had doubleheader splits with Westminster and Chatham. The 16-4 conference mark led W&J to a tie atop the PAC with Grove City, but the Presidents' regular season sweep over the Wolverines earned them the tiebreaker and the top seed in the PAC Tournament.
W&J won its first tournament bout, a 7-1 win over Thiel, but dropped its second round matchup against Westminster 5-4. The Presidents stayed alive with a 14-1 victory over Allegheny in a win-or-go-home game. Later that evening, W&J was tasked with facing Grove City in a game that would have sent W&J to a winner-take-all championship game. However, despite a game-tying home run from
Jacob LaDuca (Clarence, N.Y./Canisius) '25 in the eighth, the Presidents would allow Grove City to put up three runs in the tenth and claim a 4-1 win.
The Presidents were ranked as high as 14
th in NCAA Power Index (NPI) during the season. NPI is the official system used to select and seed teams for the championship tournament. The late regular season tumble took the Presidents out of range of an at-large NCAA Tournament bid.
W&J pitcher
Dante DiMatteo (Pittsburgh, Pa./Fox Chapel) '25 was named a 2025 D3baseball.com First Team All-American and an American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA)/Rawlings Third Team All-American.
DiMatteo and LaDuca earned All-Region 7 laurels, with DiMatteo named as the Region Pitcher of the Year and First Team honors from D3baseball.com. He was also named to the first team by ABCA/Rawlings, while LaDuca earned Second Team honors from both.
Six Presidents earned All-PAC honors, highlighted by DiMatteo being named as the conference's Pitcher of the Year. Joining DiMatteo on the First Team were LaDuca and outfielder
Drew Garth (Glenshaw, Pa./North Hills) '25. Earning a spot on the Second Team were pitchers
Ethan Marszalek (Katy, Texas/Seven Lakes) '25 and
Erik Streussnig (Pittsburgh, Pa./Plum), along with outfielder
Knox Meier (Tampa, Fla./Berkeley Prep) '25.
2026 PAC Baseball Preseason Coaches' Poll
School (first-place votes) Points 2025 Records
| 1. W&J (10) |
120 |
28-15, 16-4 PAC |
| 2. Grove City (2) |
111 |
31-13, 16-4 PAC |
| 3. Allegheny |
98 |
22-18, 13-7 PAC |
| 4. Westminster |
90 |
19-22, 11-9 PAC |
| 5. Saint Vincent |
72 |
19-22, 11-9 PAC |
| 6. Chatham |
69 |
18-21, 10-10 PAC |
| 7. Hiram |
63 |
14-24-1, 4-11 NCAC |
| 8. Thiel |
55 |
14-27, 10-9 PAC |
| 9. Geneva |
36 |
20-18, 6-14 PAC |
| 10. Bethany |
28 |
12-24-1, 7-13 PAC |
| 11t. Franciscan |
25 |
13-25, 6-14 PAC |
| 11t. Waynesburg |
25 |
7-29, 3-16 PAC |
W&J – Players to Watch
Name Yr. Pos.
Josh Dezenzo (Alliance, Ohio/Marlington) Sr. IF
Anthony Pass (Clinton, Pa./West Allegheny) Sr. P
Mountain on the loss of production from last season:
"We are losing a lot of talent and production, and that will be difficult to overcome. However, we hope to make significant strides with cohesiveness as a unit, as well as role acceptance as a unit. Sheer daily competitiveness with everything has been a point of emphasis as well, as we feel this is an area that suffered last year."
Leadership:
"We are hoping that if commitment or effort get off track, strong leadership will step up and keep things moving forward. We didn't realize as coaches how much we'd miss a Nolan Lutz '24 and others last year and what Tyler Horvat '23 and others in his class brought to the table in terms of holding people accountable and demanding things got done."
Position-by-Position Breakdown
Infield – W&J returns two infielders who started over 30 games last season in senior
Josh Dezenzo (Alliance, Ohio/Marlington) and junior
Brendan Cruz (Carnegie, Pa./Chartiers Valley). The Presidents will look to its most established hitter in Dezenzo to carry a load offensively.
"Josh works hard, and you want to see those types succeed," Mountain said. "He's opened up more as he's gotten older and is great to be around."
Dezenzo already ranks among the best home run hitters in program history with 16 and has slashed .319/.401/.609 (AVG/OBP/SLUG) in his career. The senior will fit into the mix at second base, first base, and designated hitter.
Up the middle, junior
Teddy Platt (Venetia, Pa./Peters Township) and senior
Ben Schuler (McDonald, Pa./South Fayette) have the most experience aside from Dezenzo, as Platt started 27 games at second base last season while Schuler has 29 career starts in the infield. Platt and Schuler will compete for a job at one of the two middle-infield spots. In addition, sophomores
Keegan Carr (Irwin, Pa./Norwin / Indiana University of Pennsylvania) and
Rhys Arnold (Orchard Park, N.Y./Orchard Park), as well as freshmen
Colby McGuire (Millvale, Pa./Shaler Area) and
Alex Shank (McDonald, Pa./Canon-McMillan) all figure in to the middle infield mix.
On the corners, a pair of juniors return after playing a large amount last season, as Cruz and first baseman
Brian Feldman (Gibsonia, Pa./Eden Christian Academy) return after starting 31 and 29 games last season, respectively. Sophomore
Jack Anderson (Pittsburgh, Pa./Plum) will figure into things at first base with Dezenzo and Feldman. At third base, sophomore
Tyson Leach (Hershey, Pa./Middletown) and freshman
Seth Rosenfeld (Ellicott City, Md./Long Reach) also look earn a starting spot.
"We are confident it will be more stable position this year, with multiple people capable of succeeding there based on what we saw in the fall," Mountain said of the third base spot.
Catcher – The Presidents had a rotation of catchers play last season with senior
Luke Alvarez (Elizabeth, Pa./Elizabeth Forward) standing as the most experienced player from the group. Alvarez had an impressive junior campaign offensively, with a .302 batting average and four home runs.
Along with Alvarez, junior
Carl Wagner (Honey Brook, Pa./Westtown School) and sophomore
Tommy Dietrich (Davidsonville, Md./DeMatha Catholic) each started multiple games last season behind the dish.
Jack Anderson (Pittsburgh, Pa./Plum) also adds to the equation.
"We have a lot of options behind the plate but will need multiple people to step up and earn the opportunity to be the main person at the position," Mountain said. "Last year, I don't feel like we had anyone do that."
Outfield – The Red & Black returns a trio of juniors who have all spent time in the outfield.
Zac Stern's (Coraopolis, Pa./Montour) 264 career at-bats stand as the most among active Presidents,
Andrew Miko (Portage, Pa./Portage) started 21 games as a freshman before missing most of last season with an injury, and
Paddy Hernjak (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cumberland Valley) has appeared in 40 games, mostly as a defensive and baserunning substitute. Along with competing in the infield,
Rhys Arnold (Orchard Park, N.Y./Orchard Park) also will compete for a starting outfield spot.
"We missed Andrew last year. At the time we didn't realize we would miss him as much as we did, but he brings a hard-nosed low maintenance competitiveness that we needed more of last year," Mountain said. "There is a lot of talent that has come in here in the outfield. It will be interesting to see how things work out."
Other options include senior
Eli Kite (McKeesport, Pa./Serra Catholic), who has been frequently used as a defensive substitution, sophomore
Grant Wilharm (Weirton, W. Va./Madonna), and freshmen
Jackson Stocker (Canonsburg, Pa./Peters Township) and
Tyler Maddix (Pittsburgh, Pa./Bishop Canevin).
Pitcher – W&J will look to replace over 200 innings from last season. Help is on the way, however, with the return of multiple key assets who were injured last season. This includes the team's most established option in senior
Anthony Pass (Clinton, Pa./West Allegheny) who was named All-PAC First Team in 2024. Pass threw 76 innings with a 3.79 ERA as a sophomore in 2024. Another key option for the Presidents is
Brendan Cruz (Carnegie, Pa./Chartiers Valley), who threw 24 innings with a 2.25 ERA while serving as the team's closer. Two other potential pieces for W&J missed most of or all of 2025 in junior
Bobby Budacki (New Brighton, Pa./New Brighton Area) and senior
Chase Perry (Ponte Vedra, Fla./Nease). Budacki threw eight scoreless innings in the last few weeks of the season.
"Coaches Bashioum and Shawley do a really good job with the pitchers. We have a lot of capable arms that will continue to get opportunities to step up," Mountain said. "We lose 62% of our innings thrown last year into this year, which is high, but we get people back from injuries, and we have plenty of people capable of stepping up, so we are excited to see how things transpire."
Among the capable returning arms are seniors
Nate Nolan (McDonald, Pa./West Allegheny),
Ben Pierce (Bel Air, Md./John Carroll), and
Jake Stiehl (Reston, Va./South Lakes). Nolan has worn multiple hats through three seasons with 14 starts and 27 relief appearances. He has accumulated 99.2 career innings pitched, the most on the team. Pierce bounced back from a 2024 campaign that was lost to injury with a 2025 season that saw him step up as a key reliever with a 2.75 ERA in 19.2 innings. Stiehl has also played many different roles but will be a full-time pitcher this season. Stiehl has served as a high-leverage option out of the bullpen for the Red & black and accumulated 13 appearances in 2025.
Other returners in the mix include seniors
Justin Giarrusso (Pittsburgh, Pa./Plum),
Max Stanger (Buffalo, N.Y./St. Joseph Collegiate),
Andrew Sokol (Rostraver Township, Pa./Belle Vernon Area), and
Nate Ratica (McKeesport, Pa./Elizabeth Forward) and juniors
Thomas McLaren (Mars, Pa./Mars Area),
CJ Leuch (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Hills), and
Brady Dojonovic (Pittsburgh, Pa./Plum).
Newcomers – The Presidents welcome 21 newcomers into the fold for the 2026 campaign.
Cole Brown (Newport, Pa./West Perry) RHP
Keegan Carr (Irwin, Pa./Norwin / Indiana University of Pennsylvania) INF
Tyler Chamberlin (DuBois, Pa./DuBois Area) OF/LHP
Nate Coates (Hudson, Ohio/Hudson) OF
Adam Fernandez (Ambridge, Pa./Ambridge) OF/IF
Billy George (Coraopolis, Pa./Central Catholic) RHP
Gary Hatfield (Washington, Pa./Wheeling Central Catholic) OF/IF/C
Zain Jadallah (Canfield, Ohio/Canfield) OF
Tyler Maddix (Pittsburgh, Pa./Bishop Canevin) OF/LHP
Cade Marks (Green, Ohio/Archbishop Hoban) IF
Colby McGuire (Millvale, Pa./Shaler Area) IF
Tyson Mead (Canonsburg, Pa./Canon-McMillan) RHP
Jonah Meyer (Centreville, Va./Westfield) RHP/OF
Eli Montgomery (Washington, D.C./Saint John's College) RHP
Seth Rosenfeld (Ellicott City, Md./Long Reach) IF
Ethan Septak (Harrison City, Pa./Penn Trafford) IF
Alex Shank (McDonald, Pa./Canon-McMillan) IF
Anthony Smith (Allison Park, Pa./Deer Lakes) IF
Jackson Stocker (Canonsburg, Pa./Peters Township) OF
Ben Wells (Clifton, Va./Centreville) C
"In the fall, this group injected competitive life into this program that was sorely needed," Mountain stated. "It will take time as it always does for first year players, but we are excited to see how things unfold for this class."
Coaching Addition - The Presidents add
Jonathan Spina to the staff to assist with hitting and outfielders. The Washington, Pa. native returns to his hometown after a playing career at La Roche (2016-19) that ranks him among the most accomplished baseball players in the history of Redhawks baseball.
"He has been a huge addition," Mountain said of Spina. "We needed another coach with a hitting background to assist Coach Crummer, as we have multiple coaches whose specialty is working with pitchers. This came at a perfect time for us."
Looking At The Schedule - The Presidents open with multiple tests in non-conference play. W&J open the regular season on Wednesday (Feb. 25) when they host La Roche. Two tough matchups come against Case Western Reserve, who is ranked 14
th in the D3baseball.com Preseason Top 25, and 16
th by the ABCA, on Saturday (Feb. 28) and Sunday (March 1).
W&J also has two games scheduled later in the season against Mount Union, who hosted an NCAA Regional in 2025. Conference play commences on Saturday (March 21) with a road doubleheader in Beaver Falls against Geneva. Senior day will be held in conjunction with a doubleheader against Grove City on Saturday (April 18). The top six Presidents' Athletic Conference teams will play in the PAC Tournament, which will be held at W&J on May 6-9.
Last Word From Mountain: "Ultimately, we are hopeful that last year's step backward can lead to two steps forward. There's no doubt it's refocused the program. What that leads to- we will see. We know we lost a lot of talent after last year. There's no doubt that we needed to upgrade in commitment and competitiveness this year. Everyone seems to doubt us. We didn't lose in the conference tournament for six years and we won 88% of our regular season league games in that time. W&J is the only program currently in the PAC to win an NCAA tournament game in the last multiple decades. Polls mean nothing in the preseason, but I think it's interesting that people seem to forget about and doubt us."
