Fantastic five: LaDuca named most outstanding player of PAC tournament as W&J wins 5th straight title
In the colorful words of New York Yankee great Yogi Berra, “It’s deja vu all over again,” for Washington & Jefferson junior Jacob LaDuca.
The Presidents’ shortstop had the game-winning hit, a two-run home run to right field, in Washington & Jefferson’s 4-2 victory over Grove City on Saturday at Ross Memorial Park.
The Presidents (32-12) won their fifth straight Presidents’ Athletic Conference (PAC) tournament championship and 16th overall.
W&J has automatically qualified for the NCAA Division III tournament. The bracket will be released today at noon.
The Presidents had two outs in the seventh when Ben Schuler doubled down the right-field line to set the stage for LaDuca, who was named the most valuable player of the tournament for the second consecutive year.
“Schuler had a real nice hustle double right in front of me and I knew just a base knock is going to score, and that was all I was trying to do,” LaDuca said. “Luckily, I got a good swing off on a curve ball and it went over the fence. I hate losing, and I wanted to be part of a winning culture, and that’s why I came here. Our pitchers really stepped up today and limited their timely hitting.”
W&J relief pitcher Nate Nolan threw the final four innings to earn the victory. He didn’t allow a run on two hits with two strikeouts and walks.
“Bobby (Budacki) had a great start,” LaDuca said. “Curve balls helped me get ahead of the count and I just picked my pitches off of that. It was a huge advantage beating them the first time, but we knew they were a good team and we needed to win this one and not take that chance. I have started and came out of the pen, so I am able to handle both situations.
“Winning the PAC is great, but our goal is to go further in the NCAA tournament. We have the talent to do it this year, but it is just about guys stepping up.”
Budacki allowed two earned runs on four hits over five innings. He had two strikeouts and no walks.
The Presidents won their 16th overall PAC tournament title and 12th under head coach Jeff Mountain, who asked that his players be interviewed instead of him.
Grove City (26-14) scored one run in the top of the third when Sam Bevin doubled down the left-field line and scored on Caison Holland’s single up the middle. The Presidents turned a 6-4-3 double play to get out of trouble.
The Wolverines extended their lead to 2-0 on Bevin’s solo home run to left field with two outs and a 3-2 count in the fifth. Bevin doubled in the seventh and was named to the all-tournament team.
“He’s (Bevin) a gifted athlete,” Grove City coach Matt Royer said. “He is only a freshman and a very good player. They (Washington & Jefferson) are the best team, and nobody can argue that. We played them tough, but we just have to get deeper and get a little better. No grapes. They met my expectations, so I’m happy. Everyone did a good job getting everything ready with the rain and all.”
Washington & Jefferson tied the game at 2-2 in its half of the fifth that started with Josh Dezenzo’s lead-off single to left centerfield for the Presidents’ first hit. Paddy Hernjak came in to run for Dezenzo and advanced to second on a groundout before Brendan Cruz was hit by pitch.
Hernjak scored on Ben Schuler’s base hit up the middle and Cruz advanced to third. Cruz scored on Jacob LaDuca’s groundout to the pitcher.
Grove City’s Nick Guidas suffered the loss, but he had a quality outing in yielding four earned runs on five hits over eight innings. He struck out 10 and didn’t walk a batter.
“It was a good baseball game,” Royer said. “The pitchers threw well, we only gave up five hits, one of them was a home run, but Nick (Guidas) threw great on two days rest. You can’t ask more than what he did. We actually out-hit them, but they got the timely hits, and that’s baseball.”