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W&J begins play in D-III World Series

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Washington & Jefferson’s baseball team will make its first appearance in the NCAA Division III College World Series today at Fox Cities Stadium in Appleton, Wis., when the Presidents (38-11) play Concordia Chicago (33-11) in the opening contest of the series. Game time is 11 a.m. Eastern.

The eight-team world series has a two-division, double-elimination format until the winner of each division is determined. The two division winners then play a best-of-3 series. A team could play as many as nine games to win the championship of the tournament, which runs through Wednesday, making a deep pitching staff and staying out of the losers’ bracket essential.

All eight teams qualified by winning a regional tournament. W&J, the Presidents’ Athletic Conference regular season and tournament champion, won the Mideast Regional title by defeating Cortland State in the finals Monday at Ross Memorial Park.

W&J is in a four-team bracket along with Concordia Chicago, the Midwest Regional champion, Oswego State (32-9) and Roanoke (33-17). For the first time in tournament history, the NCAA seeded the eight teams in the world series. Concordia Chicago is seeded No. 4 and W&J is No. 5. Oswego State is the top seed while Roanoke is No. 8. Roanoke was the sixth seed in its six-team conference tournament but has won eight of its last nine games to get to the world series.

The Presidents are coached by Jeff Mountain, who is in his 15th season at W&J. Mountain is no stranger to the College World Series as he played in the tournament while at Allegheny.

W&J takes an impressive offense into the tournament. The Presidents have a team batting average of .351 and are averaging 9.2 runs per game and allowing only 3.9.

Leading the W&J offense is senior outfielder Nick Vento, who is batting .433 with a team-high 57 RBI and is third in the nation in hits. He was named Most Valuable Player of the Mideast Regional.

Catcher Derek Helbing was the PAC Player of the Year and is hitting .325 with a team-high 11 home runs. Senior outfielder Nick Gatins is second on the team with a .424 batting average and shares the team lead in doubles at 18 with junior first baseman Mark Merlino, who is batting .392. Senior second baseman Adam LaRue has a team-high 17 stolen bases to go with a .355 batting average and senior designated hitter Frank Fortunato of Canonsburg has eight home runs.

Senior right-hander Riley Groves (10-2) was named both the PAC and ECAC South Pitcher of the Year. He led the PAC in ERA (2.03), win, opponent batting average (.223), strikeouts (61) and starts (13). He pitched a complete game against Cortland State in the Mideast Regional title game Monday and had two wins in that tournament. No pitcher in the world series has more wins this season than Groves.

W&J junior right-hander Bryce Schnatterly has an 8-0 record and 3.15 ERA.

Like W&J, Concordia Chicago is in the world series for the first time. The Cougars won the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference regular-season and tournament titles, then defeated Wisconsin-La Crosse 17-3 in the regional title game. The Cougars started the season slowly and had a 6-5 record after 11 games but are currently riding a 14-game winning streak.

Concordia Chicago shortstop Bryan VanDuser is the Midwest Region Player of the Year. Hitting at the top of the batting order hitter, VanDuser ranks among the top 20 nationally in both runs and hits.

Pitcher Brian Musielak has a 9-1 record and 2.06 ERA with four saves. He has been used in both starting and relief roles.

Concordia Chicago has the shortest trip to Appleton and could have a large following at the world series.

The W&J-Concordia Chicago winner will play the Oswego State-Roanoke winner Saturday at 2:15 p.m. Oswego State, ranked No. 7, is the only team in the d3baseball.com Top 25 to make it to Appleton. W&J is ranked No. 16. Concordia Chicago and Roanoke are not ranked.

In the bracket opposite of W&J are two teams from Massachusetts, UMass-Boston (37-10) and Wheaton (27-15) along with North Central (29-16) and California Lutheran (35-10). UMass-Boston, which is ranked No. 15, is the No. 2 seed and has pitcher Bryan Kaufman, who is third in Division III with a 1.08 ERA.

Fox Cities Stadium is home of the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers, an affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers in the Class A Midwest League.

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