May 11, 2018 3 min read

If stranding 16 runners on base in the Washington & Jefferson College baseball team’s first elimination game against Thiel College Friday afternoon didn’t upset the Presidents enough, then surely getting revenge on the team that sent them to the losers bracket would serve as motivation.

Trying to become the first team since 2006 in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference to win a championship after losing its first-round tournament game, Washington & Jefferson scored seven runs in the first inning and coasted to a decisive 15-2 win over Saint Vincent in the second of two elimination games the Presidents played Friday at Ross Memorial Park.

The Presidents will have to defeat Thomas More in back-to-back games today to repeat as PAC champions. The opening game starts at 12:30 p.m.

“While it’s good to be young and dumb, and you don’t know any better in certain situations. There is no substitute for experience,” said W&J coach Jeff Mountain. “Our seniors have played 10 to 15 elimination games in their time. It can only help.”

It also helped the Presidents that, unlike in Thursday’s 4-2 opening-round loss to Saint Vincent (15-21), they scored multiple runs in three innings. None was more important than the seven-run first, when junior Mullen Socha had two hits, including a two-run double to the left-centerfield gap.

Washington & Jefferson (27-15-1) used two errors by the Bearcats in the second inning to pad its lead to 10-0, then Socha tripled to start the scoring in a two-run fifth for the Presidents. Socha went 3-for-4 with three RBI.

“It was a whole team effort,” Socha said. “My coaches were putting me in the right spots. Losing to Saint Vincent the first time was a wake-up call for us. It motivated us because we started to realize we have to play with nothing to lose. I think we came out with more energy and fire, which was good.”

Socha helped the Presidents advance in the first elimination game of the tournament with an 8-1 win over Thiel.

Socha went 4-for-6, hit a home run and had two RBI. Ryan Scuillo collected five hits and W&J starter Bryce Schnatterly earned the win after scatting six hits and striking out nine in 72/3 innings.

“We have definitely lacked (motivation) the last couple of weeks,” Mountain said. “You don’t know why it happens but it does. The mindset was better. The mentality was better. We have been in a lot of these (elimination games) before. We came out ready to compete on every pitch and it went our way.”

Notes

The Presidents won back-to-back games against Grove City last season, both 8-1, to win their 11th PAC championship. In 2016, Thomas More swept W&J to win the title. … W&J and Thomas More have combined to win 10 of the last 12 conference championships.