W&J Finishes 20th In Final D3baseball.com National Poll
WASHINGTON, Pa. – Washington & Jefferson College finished the season ranked in the final D3baseball.com Top 25 national poll for the first time in school history. The website ranked the Presidents 20th in its final set of national rankings.
W&J (36-10) enjoyed its finest season in school history after setting the school record with 36 victories. Washington & Jefferson earned its second-ever, at-large bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament, landing the No. 2 seed in the Mideast Regional. The Presidents, who reached as high as No. 14 in the D3baseball.com Top 25, have played in the national tournament three times in the last four years, the first three appearances in program history.
Head Coach Jeff Mountain, a four-time Presidents’ Athletic Conference Coach of the Year, helped W&J win the PAC regular-season title with a conference-record 21 league victories (21-3). The Presidents’ all-time baseball coaching wins leader will enter his 11th year at the college next spring with a 270-157-1 record (.632).
Since 2005, Mountain’s teams have won 68 percent of their games (243-114-1), including a 108-36 record (.750) in conference play. Washington & Jefferson also has produced six 30-plus win seasons during that period.
The 2012 Presidents recorded the 11th-best winning percentage (.783) in NCAA Division III this spring with the 36-10 record. As a team, W&J was fourth in the country in sacrifice flies (35), 18th in hits allowed per nine innings (8.18) and 20th in fielding percentage (.967).
Five Presidents were named to all-region teams, including senior pitcher Dave Trushel (Bethel Park, Pa./Bethel Park) and sophomore right fielder Josh Staniscia (Export, Pa./Franklin Regional), who earned spots on both the D3baseball.com and ABCA region squads.
Trushel ended the season 10th in NCAA Division III with eight complete games, 21st in victories (9) and 22nd in games started on the mound (13). Staniscia finished sixth nationally with eight triples, while also cracking Division III’s top 100 players in base hits (54th, 67), runs (70th, 46), batting average (80th, .404) and slugging percentage (97th, .614) and runs batted in (99th, 42).
Washington & Jefferson opens its 2013 season on March 9 when it travels to Bethany for a 1:00 pm conference doubleheader. The Presidents will host the two-time defending national champion Marietta Pioneers on April 7 at Ross Memorial Park (1:00 pm).
