Photo Provided by Jill Kalinski Nate Rush is batting .307 for No. 2 ranked Washington & Jefferson this season.

WHEELING — Former Bishop Donahue and Linsly baseball star Nate Rush had a difficult decision to make after his freshman season at Fairleigh Dickinson in 2019.

Did he want to continue to play Division I Baseball for a team still trying to find a head coach or did he want to chase a World Series title at the Division III level?

The competitor in him made that choice an easy one as he entered the transfer portal after a 6-22 season for the Knights and found his new home at Washington & Jefferson, which was coming off of its second trip to the DIII World Series in three years.

Rush couldn’t be happier with his choice as W&J finished the regular season ranked second nationally in Division III with a record of 33-1 overall and 16-0 at home. The Presidents also won their last 11 games of the season heading into the PAC Tournament, which gets underway today on their home field.

“I kind of got caught up in the Division I thing coming out of high school,” Rush said. “I knew I was good enough to play there but I definitely think there are more important things like the culture of a program.

“Some of the things that were missing at FDU, I’ve found at W&J.

“If I could go back and tell my high school self ‘what are you going to remember from playing college sports? You’re not going to remember the level of competition you faced at the DI level or all the gear you get. You’re going to look back and remember what we did in 2021 with W&J,’ and that’s really what I wanted.”

There was no denying Rush was talented enough for the Division I level. As a freshman at Fairleigh Dickinson, he had an on-base percentage of .380 in 29 starts but it was the team success he was searching for.

“The coach who recruited me retired from FDU before I got there, so we had an interim coach my freshman year,” Rush said. “After our season we were told he wasn’t coming back and they were going to look elsewhere. So with that and how our season went, I ended up being one of, I want to say, 10 players who transferred out.

“I looked at W&J out of high school and I was really interested. Once I entered the transfer portal in May, we got in contact pretty quickly. I was looking to play right away and I was looking to win, which W&J was just coming off of a World Series run, so I knew it was going to be a good fit and it has been.”

Rush isn’t just along for the ride either. He is hitting at a .307 clip (39-for-127) with 21 RBI, 40 runs scored, 20 walks and started in all 34 games of the campaign.

On March 12 vs. Grove City, Rush put together a 4-for-4 day at the plate as the Presidents plated two runs in the seventh to secure a 6-5 victory.

“I knew right away what this program was capable of,” Rush said. “I knew what coach (Jeff) Mountain was like and I knew this program was heading in the right direction.

“The way last spring went was disappointing (with COVID cancelling the season) but as soon as we got back here in the fall we had that expectation that we were going to have a normal season and we got after it. We have a talented group of guys, good coaches and the biggest factor that has gotten us to this point is the willingness to work.”

That work ethic paid off for Rush, who was honored for his performance on the diamond on April 12 as he was named the “President of the Week” after batting .533 with eight hits, 11 runs and five RBI in four games that week.

“I’ve kind of always had the same mentality,” Rush said. “You can never work hard enough. There is always more work to be done and a lot of room for improvement. That’s kind of how we all feel and that is what has gotten us to this point.”

As tournament time shifts into full force, Rush knows just one thing — he’s ready.

“It’s been good to get national recognition since we’re a small school,” Rush said. “We’ll be playing for a conference championship and that’s the first step and we’ll build from there. Then, we’ll go into the regional and hopefully back to Cedar Rapids, Iowa again for the World Series.

“I’m excited that the postseason is finally here so we can see what we can really do.”