May 13, 2023 3 min read

The Washington & Jefferson College baseball team won its fourth straight Presidents’ Athletic Conference championship – and 15th overall – with a 12-3 thumping of Saint Vincent in the finals of the league tournament Saturday at Ross Memorial Park.

The PAC title means that W&J (31-12) will be back in the NCAA Division III tournament that begins next week.

But before you think this was another smooth and predictable season for W&J, you need to know that the latest championship took a little more sweat, a little more patience and lot more work by the athletic training staff than in past years. And because of those factors, this might be the most satisfying championship that 21st-year head coach Jeff Mountain has put together.

“A lot of work went into this,” Mountain said. “You take none of these championships for granted, but this one might mean more than some of the others because every game seemed like a battle. Nothing can easy. We had a lot of injuries, especially in the pitching staff.”

Before the school year began, that pitching staff lost two starters who transferred to Division I programs. Another pitcher suffered a torn labrum during the season but is still pitching.

Then there was a tough stretch at midseason when the Presidents lost four out of five games, though against top-notch competition.

“We played Point Park, which is an unreal NAIA team, and played Marietta,” Mountain pointed out. “But those games paid dividends. We played a tough schedule. Our strength of schedule is very good. At the beginning of the season, we were playing a lot of people, moving them around. Once we got the lineup set, things took off.”

Against Saint Vincent (22-18), which had won 15 of its last 19, tournament MVP Jacob LaDuca and Trevor Dean combined for nine RBI, Nolan Lutz had four hits and winning pitcher Shane Fox (2-1) tossed 7 1/3 innings of spectacular one-run ball.

After Saint Vincent took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning on an RBI double by Billy Perroz, W&J erased the deficit only two batters into the bottom of the first when Dean hit a two-run homer to left centerfield.

The Presidents made it 3-1 in the first inning and kept adding to its lead with two runs in the second and three in the fourth. Dean had four RBI in the first two innings as he added a two-run single in his second at-bat.

LaDuca, who hit a walk-off homer to beat Grove City in a winner’s bracket game Friday, had an RBI groundout in the first inning, a two-run double in the fourth and a two-run single in the eighth.

“We’re playing our best baseball,” LaDuca said. “That was the goal. Everything we do is building up to playing our best at this moment.”

Fox scattered eight hits but allowed only one run. He walked only one, struck out three and picked off two baserunners, one at first base and one at second.

“Tyler didn’t have the year he wanted, but last year in regionals he threw the best game,” Mountain said. “He has big-game experience, which will help us moving forward.”

The sites for the regionals along with the tournament field and first-round matchups will be announced by the NCAA on Monday. Mountain said its unlikely that W&J will receive the top seed in the regional, but added that sometimes a No. 2 seed will host a regional.