BEAVER FALLS, Pa. – The Geneva College baseball team entered Saturday's doubleheader against first place Washington & Jefferson (W&J) in a bit of a slump, having lost five of its last six games.  Despite that, Geneva battled the Presidents in both games, losing the first game, 4-1, and then dropping game two, 16-7, after W&J scored seven late runs to blow open what was a close game.  Geneva's record is now 17-10, 6-8 in the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC), while W&J improved to 21-10-1, 13-1 in the PAC.

In game one, senior starting pitcher Richie Rowe was the story of the game for the Golden Tornadoes, putting together his best outing of the season against the powerful W&J offense.  He held the Presidents to just one run in the first seven innings before a Geneva error in the eighth opened the door for two more runs.

W&J added one more run in the ninth against relief pitching before the Geneva offense finally stirred to life.  Geneva scored one run in the bottom of the ninth and had the bases loaded when the final out was recorded.

Rowe picked up the loss, but he went 7.1 innings and gave up just five hits and two earned runs, while striking out a season-high eight.  Walks were his only struggle, as he issued six on the day.  Offensively Geneva actually outhit W&J eight to five, but the Golden Tornadoes couldn't get the big hit when they needed it.  Seniors Vinny Howells and Joey Luciana each had two hits.

The second game proved to be a much more high-scoring affair.  W&J scored three runs in the top of the second, but Geneva responded with four runs in the bottom of the third to take its only lead of the game.   Luciana had a two-run double in the inning, while senior Forrest Beighley and freshman Garrison Wieland also added RBIs.

Unfortunately W&J responded with five runs in the top of the fourth, and the Presidents added one more in the fifth.  A two-run homer from Luciana in the bottom of the inning cut the deficit to 9-6, but the Golden Tornadoes could not get any closer.  W&J took advantage of a depleted Geneva bullpen, with the Golden Tornadoes having played a doubleheader the day before at Bethany, to score seven runs in the eighth and ninth innings to break the game open, before closing out the game 16-7.

Luciana had a huge game, going 2-for-5 with a double, homer and four RBIs.  Wieland also had a good game, going 3-for-5 with two RBIs, while junior Jericho Hilling added two hits.

Geneva will take a break from PAC play on Tuesday when it hosts D'Youville College for a doubleheader starting at 1:00 p.m.