Three in a row for W&J baseball in PAC
With starting pitcher James Campbell in the dugout after a 119-pitch effort and Washington & Jefferson’s baseball team clinging to a two-run lead in the seventh inning, reliever Ethan Marszalek walked the first batter he faced and gave up a single to center.
That required a quick visit from Presidents’ head coach Jeff Mountain, who was taking a chance by using Marszalek. The freshman right-hander had a 7.38 ERA in eight innings of relief.
Not exactly Mariano Rivera numbers.
“Freshman. Nerves. Sometimes you just need a break in the routine to change things around,” Mountain said. “It’s hard. You have a guy who has never been in that spot. Do you use him or not? I decided to use him. He has really good stuff.”
The visit seemed to transform Marszalek, who went on to strike out the side with a breaking ball that looked a lot like the one Bert Blyleven used to throw.
Suddenly, momentum changed and back-to-back solo home runs by Roman Samson and Trevor Dean in the seventh inning completely swung the momentum and turned a worrisome situation into a 10-2 blowout for W&J against Westminster in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference tournament on a sun-splashed Saturday at Ross Memorial Park.
The conference victory was the third consecutive for W&J and 14th in program history. Mountain enjoyed his 10th PAC title.
By winning the conference title, W&J earns the automatic berth into the NCAA Division III tournament. W&J administration has put in a bid to host the tournament but won’t find out until Monday the site of the tournament. Games begin Friday.
“I’ve never (won three titles in a row) before,” said Mountain. “That means a tremendous amount. You never take it for granted. I’ve been through a lot this year on and off the field.”
The home run by Samson was a no-doubter blast over the left field fence. Samson hit .308 for the tournament with two home runs.
“I hit a fastball across the middle of the plate,” said Samson. “After I hit it, I felt the momentum swing. The first at-bat I just missed on. Then I changed my approach and tried to go to right field.”
Dean’s blast was special because he was not playing good enough to win a starting job earlier in the season. His second chance came in the tournament and he wasn’t about to let the opportunity pass.
He batted .417 in the tournament and hit two home runs over three games.
“I just took advantage of the moment, felt more comfortable at the plate and put some goood swings on the ball.” said Dead.
DH Evan Sante and catch Peter Kalinski each knocked in three runs, center fielder Tyler Horvat went 3-for-6 with two runs and an RBI and third baseman Nate Rush went 2-for-4 with two runs.
Second baseman Jason Gregovits was named tournament MVP. He batted .417, with a double, triple and two home runs.
W&J scored in each of the first three innings, taking a 4-0 lead.
Horvat opened the game with a single, went to third base on a single by Rush and scored on a double by Kalinski. Rush came home on a groundout by Evan Sante.
Shortstop Jacob LaDuca’s leadoff double, a sacrifice and a groundout by Horvat stretched the lead by W&J to 3-0 after two.
The lead ballooned to 4-0 in the top of the third inning. Left fielder Trevor Dean was hit by a pitch with two outs, moved to second on a walk and scored on a single by first baseman Joe Lehner.
But Westminster (22-17) cut the lead in half in the bottom of the inning when Brandon Cooper doubled in two runs.