WAYNESBURG, Pa. (April 20) – The Waynesburg University baseball team took over sole possession of fourth place in the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) by completing a two-day, three-game sweep of Washington & Jefferson with a 5-2 win on Wednesday.
Wednesday's nine-inning victory gave the Jackets (11-18, 9-6) their first three-game sweep of the Presidents (14-14, 8-7) since before the 2002 season. This spring marks the first time Waynesburg has taken a season series from W&J since 2003.
The home team got all the offense it needed in the fourth inning. After loading the bases, junior designated hitter
Jonathon Kletzli came up with arguably his biggest hit of the season, when he smoked a bases-clearing triple down the right field line that put Waynesburg ahead 3-0. Three batters later, junior centerfielder
Josh Hausler increased the Jacket advantage to 4-0 when he singled home Kletzli.
The Presidents broke up the shutout in the top of the seventh with their first run of the day. W&J further cut into the deficit with another tally in the top of the eighth, but Waynesburg was able to snuff out the rally in the bottom of the frame. Junior third baseman
Cameron Bernhardt did the honors by teeing off on his first home run of the season, which brought about the final score of 5-2.
Senior
Brian Resnik improved his season record to 4-4 on the mound after working the first seven innings of the victory. He gave up one run on four hits and two walks, while striking out two Presidents. Junior lefty
Parker Beatty notched his second save of the spring after allowing a run on two hits and a walk over the final two frames of play.
Resnik's win was a historic one for the veteran righty. By notching his 26
th collegiate victory, he has moved into a tie for second place on the PAC's all-time career wins list. Resnik needs to win three more decisions to take over first place from former W&J standout Eddie Nogay.
Waynesburg out-hit W&J nine to six. Kletzli and Hausler recorded two hits each on the day, with Kletzli adding a double to his bases-clearing triple. Five different Jackets scored a run in the win.
The Jackets return to their home field on Friday, April 22, to begin another important PAC series. Waynesburg hosts third-place Thiel for a nine-inning matchup, with first pitch scheduled to be thrown at 4 p.m.
