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W&J reaches PAC final
jmontecalvo@observer-reporter.com
In the last two Presidents' Athletic Conference baseball tournaments, Washington & Jefferson College has taken the long road to the championship game.
In 2005, the Presidents lost a second-round game to Westminster, but battled back through the losers bracket before being defeated by the Titans in the final game.
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This year, however, the Presidents have made the trip to the PAC championship round as short as possible. W&J, behind an excellent pitching performance from Sam Mann and a four-run seventh inning, advanced to the finals with a 6-0 victory over Thiel Friday afternoon in the winners bracket final at Ross Memorial Park.
W&J (30-10) will face Thiel, an 8-7 winner over Thoms More in the losers bracket final, at 1 p.m. today at Ross Memorial Park. Thiel will have to defeat the Presidents twice to claim the title. If a second game is necessary, it will be played at 4 p.m.
"It certainly puts us in the driver's seat, but as you saw last year, anything can happen," W&J coach Jeff Mountain said. "Somebody is going to come in with a lot of momentum. They will have a little bit of a depleted bullpen. We're fortunate that we have all of our bullets still available except for two pitchers."
The Presidents only had to use one pitcher against the Tomcats (28-14).
Mann pitched a complete game, striking out five and scattering five hits. He didn't walk a batter, allowing only one runner to reach second base.
"I had a good fastball and I got ahead in the count pretty much all day," Mann said. "Then I could work my offspeed pitches, and that kept (Thiel) on the defensive. Our defense - the infield especially - was really good."
And they were busy, recording outs on all 17 attempts.
Two of the Thiel hits were shallow fly balls. Through six innings, the Tomcats had two baserunners and Mann (7-4) relinquished one hit - an infield single. In the sixth inning, he got three outs on four pitches.
"He just had good stuff right from the get-go," Mountain said. "He established his fastball inside, and that opened up the outside of the plate for his breaking stuff. This is as sharp as he's been all year."
But while Mann was dominant, the Presidents were clinging to a 1-0 lead they established when Chris Varacallo singled home Chartiers-Houston graduate Justin Benson in the first inning. W&J had six hits off Thiel starter Dave Graff (6-3), but only one run.
The Presidents, however, broke through in the seventh. Warren Stowe reached on an error. Michael Kennedy followed with a double and Benson put down a perfect squeeze bunt that scored Stowe.
Graff picked two W&J runners off at first base in the fifth inning, but when he tried again in the seventh, his throw was errant and Benson scored from third. Varacallo and Sean Pfeil drove in the last two runs of the inning.
"The first five innings we weren't so good," Mountain said. "The rest of the way we did a pretty good job. It coincided with when we sat back and hit the ball where it was pitched."
Benson, who was 2-for-4 with a double, had two stolen bases and scored three runs. Varacallo went 4-for-4 with a double, triple and three RBI.
"We knew how important this game was," Mann said. "When you have to go through the losers' bracket it tires everybody out. Now we can go rest and come back fresh."
