W&J’s ace trumps Thiel in PAC tournament opener
The Washington & Jefferson baseball team had scuffled – at least by the Presidents’ lofty standards – down the stretch in the regular season.
There was, however, one thing during this period that was comforting to head coach Jeff Mountain. Every six or seven days, Mountain was able to write the name Dante DiMatteo on his lineup card and then sit back and watch the senior right-handed pitcher do what he does best – win games by throwing shutout innings.
DiMatteo was at it again Wednesday in the opening game of the Presidents’ Athletic Conference tournament at Ross Memorial Park. He threw seven shutout innings as W&J rolled to a 7-1 victory over Thiel.
The win moves top-seeded W&J (27-13) to the 2:30 p.m. game today in the six-team double-elimination tournament against Westminster (16-21). The victory also improved DiMatteo’s record to 9-0 this season and 19-1 in his career.
“He threw seven shutout innings and his ERA barely dropped,” Mountain said of his ace pitcher.
DiMatteo entered the game with a 0.93 ERA. It dropped to 0.83. That shows you how dominant DiMatteo has been. He’s currently on a stretch in which he’s allowed one earned run in his last 24 2/3 innings.
“He’s a strike-thrower, he’s a leader, he’s confident,” Mountain said. “He changes speeds and can throw all three of his pitches for strikes. And they are three really good pitches.”
Sometimes even a pitcher with a terrific arsenal like DiMatteo can use a little good fortune. That’s what happened early against Thiel (14-26). The Tomcats had runners on first and third with no outs in the second inning. Thiel’s Colton Brightwell, a Bentworth graduate, then hit a line drive directly at W&J second baseman Teddy Platt, who caught the ball and fired to first baseman Brian Feldman to easily double off Nick Jacobs for the inning’s second out. DiMatteo got out of the inning unscathed by inducing a groundout. He then retired 10 of the next 12 Thiel hitters.
“I got lucky with that double play,” DiMatteo said. “I think the first time through the opponent’s lineup I give up a few hits, face some adversity and gain a game plan for how to attack the lineup.”
On this day, DiMatteo’s plan was to simply throw strikes. He threw 100 pitches, walking one batter and striking out seven.
Mountain said he’s seen a boost in DiMatteo’s confidence ever since the Fox Chapel graduate threw a shutout in an elimination game against Colby in last year’s NCAA Division III tournament.
“That’s true,” DiMatteo said. “I’m just trusting the preparation that I did in the fall and winter and going out there with the mentality that I’m better than these guys, even if it’s not true. I’ve tried to stay on an even keel and that has helped this year.”
While DiMatteo was tossing shutout innings, the dam that had been holding back W&J’s offense finally broke.
The Presidents had scored in only three of their previous 29 innings but took control against Thiel with a three-run fourth. Knox Meier, Feldman and Zac Stern had consecutive singles that gave W&J a 1-0 lead. Brody Bartenstein added an RBI single that moved Stern to third base. The Presidents then perfectly executed a double steal with Stern scoring.
The lead grew to 5-0 in the fifth. Jacob LaDuca started it with a single and moved to third on a double by Meier. Feldman, W&J’s cleanup hitter, drove in both runners with a single up the middle on a 3-2 pitch.
The Presidents added two runs on only one hit in the seventh. Thiel committed two errors in the inning.
Thiel scored its only run in the eighth when W&J turned a ground ball into a double play.
Grove City, 10-3
Grove City (28-10) scored five early runs and three pitchers combined on a seven-hitter as the Wolverines defeated Saint Vincent (18-21) 10-3 in a first round game. Josh Minnich hit two doubles and drove in three to lead Grove City.
Allegheny, 4-1
Matt Jennings threw seven innings of one-run ball and Alejandro Samayoa drove in two runs in Allegheny’s 4-1 win over Westminster in the final game of the opening day.