Game One Box Score
Game Two Box Score
 
WAYNESBURG, Pa. (April 7) – The Waynesburg University baseball team split a pair of seven-inning Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) contests with Thiel College under sunny skies on Saturday. After senior Ben Oviatt pitched the Yellow Jackets to a 4-1 win in game one, the Tomcats broke up a 4-4 tie in the top of the seventh inning to pull out a 5-4 victory. With the split, the Jackets (15-9, 6-6) remained at .500 in PAC play. Thiel is now 11-13 on the season and 4-5 in conference action.
 
Game one started with a scoreless first inning, but the home team took control of the game in the bottom of the second inning after forcing the Tomcats to strand the bases loaded in the top of the frame. Senior third baseman Tim Chilcote led off with a walk and sophomore designated hitter Andrew Rose followed with a bunt single that put two runners on with nobody out. After junior right fielder Adam Horning's fielder's choice moved Chilcote to third base, senior centerfielder Mike Neckerman brought him the rest of the way home on an RBI fielder's choice play. Junior shortstop Kyle Sasala followed with a single that included a bobbled ball in the Thiel outfield that allowed Neckerman to come all the way around to score and put his team up 2-0.
 
The Jackets extended their lead to 3-0 in the bottom of the third when senior catcher Brendan Scioscia led off with a walk, moved to third base on a single by junior first baseman Bobby Hartman and came into score on a sacrifice fly by senior leftfielder Nick Berdine. Thiel picked up its only run of the opener on a solo homerun in the top of the fourth, but Waynesburg answered in the bottom of the sixth to put the game away.
 
Berdine led off with a single and moved to second base on a sacrifice bunt by Chilcote. After moving to third on a wild pitch, Rose singled through the left side of the infield to make the score 4-1 in favor of the home team. Oviatt finished the game off in perfect fashion by retiring the top of the Tomcat order in order to secure his seventh win of the year (7-1). The veteran lefty dropped his season ERA to 2.72 after working all seven innings, during which he scattered seven hits and two walks.
 
Game two started in similar fashion for the Jackets as they jumped ahead 2-0 in the bottom of the second inning. After Sasala led off and reached base on an error, he was moved to second base on a sacrifice bunt by senior second baseman Corey Goeggelman. Scioscia moved him to third base on a ground out and Sasala scored his first run of the afternoon on double off the bat of Hartman that skipped down the third base line. Two batters later, Chilcote singled home Hartman and the Jackets looked to be in good shape to pick up the sweep.
 
Neither offense was able to put up any runs over the next two innings and the Tomcat bats got started in the top of the fourth inning with a two-spot that tied the game at 2-2. The Jackets wasted little time in getting the lead back and used a little two-out lightning to do so in the bottom of the fourth. With two outs on the board, Rose slapped a single to keep the inning going and Horning further extended the frame with a single of his own. The Jackets got a little help from the opposition when Neckerman reached base on a Thiel error that allowed Rose to score before Horning was tagged out trying to go from second base to third.
 
Trailing 3-2, Thiel grabbed its first lead (4-3) on the day with two runs in the top of the fifth inning, but, once again, they weren't able to hold it for very long as the home team scored its fourth and final run in the bottom of the frame. Sasala led off with a single and moved up to second base during the ensuing at-bat, which resulted in Goeggelman laying down a sacrifice bunt that pushed his teammate to third base. Waynesburg kept the small ball going as Scioscia's ground out to second base was sufficient to get Sasala home and tie the game at 4-4.
 
Unfortunately, the visitors took the lead for good at 5-4 in the top of the seventh inning and Waynesburg went down in order to close up the contest. Sophomore Zach Kreke started on the mound for the Jackets and worked all seven innings in the loss. Kreke gave up 10 hits and a walk that led to five earned runs. The second-year righty picked up four strikeouts on the day.
 
Rose paced the Waynesburg offense during his first starts of the season by going three-for-five (.600) with an RBI and a run scored. Hartman, Berdine and Sasala added two hits each in the double-header, while Sasala scored a team-high two runs. Six different Jackets scored one run each, while six members of the home team drove in a run each.
 
The Jackets will leave PAC play when they return to their home field on Tuesday, April 10, to host Kenyon College. First pitch of the double-header is scheduled for 1 p.m.