LATROBE, Pa. (March 29) – The Saint Vincent baseball team dropped both ends of a Presidents' Athletic Conference doubleheader to Washington & Jefferson at Bearcat Ballfield, falling 10-1 in the opener and 8-4 in the nightcap.
GAME ONE: W&J 10, Saint Vincent 1
In the day's first game, the visiting Presidents racked 15 hits, including five for extra bases, while the Bearcat bats struggled, managing just six hits while striking out 12 times.
Billy Perroz (2-for-3) and Dalton Nickolw (2-for-4) each tallied multi-hit games for the Bearcats, but the lone other hits came from pinch-hitters Austin Tirpak and Ben Hudson.
The Bearcats' scratched across their lone run of the game in the bottom of the ninth when Austin Tirpak drove a pinch-hit triple to the right field corner, plating Tristan Bedillion, who led off the frame with a walk.
Saint Vincent starter Casey Jones worked five innings and gave up five runs with four strikeouts and was the first of four Bearcat hurlers in the game. Joseph Burke made his collegiate debut and threw a scoreless eighth inning, with one strikeout.
Ethan Marszalek started and got the win for W&J, working five shutout innings and allowing three hits with eight strikeouts.
GAME TWO: W&J 8, Saint Vincent 4
The Presidents started quickly at the plate in the nightcap, using two hits and two walks to plate three runs in the top of the first.
The Bearcats got one back in the bottom of the second when Nicklow doubled to right, moved to third on a Michael Klingensmith single and scored on a Derek Hald sacrifice fly to cut the deficit to 3-1.
W&J added one run in the top of the fourth, before SVC answered right back in the bottom half to again pull to within two runs. With one out, Nicklow was hit by a pitch, and would then score on an opposite-field Hald double.
The SVC relief tandem of Andrew Root and Aaron Stephan kept the Presidents' off the board through the middle innings, and Hald would again come through with a big hit to make it a one-run game in the bottom of the sixth, stroking a triple to right field that scored Jordan Sabol, who opened the inning with a walk.
After W&J plated three runs in the seventh and one in the eighth to make it 7-3, SVC countered with one run in the home half of the eighth. Perroz singled to center to open the inning, before taking second on another free pass to Sabol. After Hald reached base on an error, Dimitri Gary drew a pinch-hit, bases loaded walk to bring home Perroz with his team's fourth run.
The Presidents answered with one run in the top of the eighth by way of a single, walk, hit batter, and wild pitch.
In the bottom of the ninth, the Bearcats loaded the bases after walks to Devin Bonine, Sabol and Tirpak, but were unable to plate a run, as W&J reliever Dante DiMatteo escaped the jam with a strikeout to close out the win.
Led by Hald's two-hit, two-RBI effort, the Bearcats produced 10 hits in the game. Hald was one of four SVC players to tally multi-hit games, as Perroz, Dylan Schmude and L.J. Evans each went 2-for-5, with Evans and Schmude each cracking doubles. Sabol drew three walks and scored a run.
Nate Davis started on the mound for SVC and worked three innings, allowing four runs on five hits, with four strikeouts and five walks. Root threw 3 1/3 frames and allowed two runs on four hits, while Stephan threw 2 1/3 and allowed two runs (one earned) on two hits with two Ks.
Saint Vincent will be back in action on Saturday, April 1, traveling to West Virginia to take on PAC foe Bethany in a 1 p.m. doubleheader.
