Jacob LaDuca followed up his Friday walk-off home run with a five RBI game in the finals as #1 Washington & Jefferson throttled #3 St. Vincent, 12-3, in the PAC Baseball Championship Tournament. The Presidents have won four straight League titles, 15 overall, 11 of them under head coach Jeff Mountain. W&J has not lost a Conference tournament game since the final of the 2018 tourney to Thomas More.
Trailing 1-0, Trevor Dean drilled a two-run home run in the bottom of the first, putting the Presidents (31-12) in front to stay. LaDuca picked up the first of his RBIs with a groundout. Dean added a two-run single in the second and LaDuca stroked a two-run double in the fourth, putting W&J up 8-1. Starting pitcher Shane Fox scattered eight hits over 7.1 innings of work, hit longest and best outing of the season. Tyler Horvat went 3-for-4, scored three times and added to his single-season-school-record stolen base mark with his 27th of the season. Nolan Lutz was 4-for-5 and drove in a pair of runs giving him 30 RBI on the season. Lutz also added five outstanding defensive plays to either save errant throws or run down long foul fly balls. W&J now awaits announcement of the NCAA Division III Baseball regional pairings. That action is due to start Friday, May 19.
Saturday
Final Wash & Jeff 12, St. Vincent 3