Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

LATROBE, Pa. (March 31) – The Waynesburg University baseball team split a seven-inning doubleheader at Saint Vincent College on Monday by taking game one 6-5 and falling 6-2 in game two. The split allowed the Yellow Jackets to win the three-game season series against the Bearcats 2-1.
 
SVC (7-11, 2-3) struck first on the day with a run in the first inning and maintained that slim advantage until the top of the third, when the Orange and Black bats woke up in a big way. The Jackets (6-12, 2-1) plated five runs in the frame to move ahead 5-1.
 
Sophomore right fielder Eric Crum led off with a walk and was followed by junior Ben Shorthouse slapping a single down the right-field line. With runners on the corners, senior centerfielder Clay Roman tied the game at 1-1 when he singled Crum home. A fourth-straight Yellow Jacket reached base when freshman Jonathon Kletzli singled in Shorthouse to give Waynesburg its first lead at 2-1.
 
After sophomore first baseman Matt Bensinger drew a walk to load the bases, Saint Vincent picked up its first out of the frame on a strikeout. However, the Jackets got back to scoring when junior second baseman Neal Yakopin brought home his team's third run by getting hit by a pitch. Senior catcher Marc Timmons closed the inning in a big way by stroking a two-run single that made the score 5-1 in favor of the eventual winners.
 
The Bearcats scored their second run of the game during the bottom of the third, but Waynesburg got it right back in the top of the fourth. Crum led off with a single and moved to second base when Shorthouse was hit by a pitch. After Roman flew out to record his team's first out, Kletzli drove in the eventual game-winning run (6-2) with a single that allowed Crum to sprint home. The Jackets loaded the bases later in the inning, but SVC was able to limit the damage.
 
The Jackets maintained their four-run advantage until the bottom of the seventh inning, when the Cats rallied for three runs to pull to within a single score (6-5). SVC had a runner on second base with two outs on the board when sophomore Derrick Zavatsky was called from the bullpen to get the final out of the game.
 
Zavatsky recorded his first collegiate save in relief of freshman Luke Carter, who gave everything he had to improve to 2-1 on the mound. Carter fired in a whopping 121 pitches over 6.2 innings of work, during which he allowed five runs on 12 hits and no walks. The rookie righty struck out four Bearcats, before handing the ball off to Zavatsky, who needed five pitches to notch the save.
 
Kletzli notched a team-high three hits, all singles, in four at-bats with a Waynesburg-best two RBI. Roman and freshman shortstop Nathan Mori chipped in two hits each, while Crum went one-for-three with two walks and two runs scored.
 
Game two got off to a similar start as the opener with the Bearcats scoring in the first inning for a second-straight contest. However, SVC was the one piecing together a five-run inning, which they did in the bottom of the fourth to take a 6-0 lead.
 
Waynesburg tried to pull off a third-straight come-from-behind win when Kletzli roped a two-run double in the top of the sixth that scored Roman and Mori and pulled the visiting team to within four runs of the opposition. Unfortunately, the Jackets never got any closer to victory, as they suffered their first PAC loss of the season.
 
Freshman Colton Lippencott tasted defeat in his first collegiate start after giving up six runs on five hits and two walks over 3.1 innings of work. Sophomore Tyler Prevost notched two-thirds of an inning on the mound, before turning things over to freshman Jacob Meyer, who tossed two innings of one-hit shutout ball to keep Waynesburg alive for a comeback.
 
Kletzli paced the Waynesburg attack in the late contest by going two-for-three with his two-run double. Roman also doubled.
 
The Jackets are back in action tomorrow when they welcome Thiel College to Waynesburg for a seven-inning doubleheader. First pitch of game one is scheduled for 1 p.m.