WAYNESBURG, Pa. (April 30) – The Waynesburg University baseball team swept a crucial Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) doubleheader with visiting Saint Vincent on Saturday. The Yellow Jackets rebounded from an early 3-0 deficit to defeat the Bearcats 4-3 in game one, before leading for the entirety of a 4-1 win in game two.
Waynesburg (14-21, 12-9) committed three first-inning errors that led to three unearned runs. Senior ace
Brian Resnik was able to hold things together through the rocky start and trailed 3-0 after the top of the frame.
The Jackets starting pulling themselves out of their early hole with a run in the bottom of the second frame. Ironically, a Saint Vincent (17-20, 10-14) error led to Waynesburg picking up an unearned run when senior catcher
Tyler Rubasky grounded out to allow freshman second baseman
Tyler Reis to sprint home with his team's first run.
Three innings later, the Orange and Black was able to grind out another run that trimmed its deficit down to a single score at 3-2. Sophomore right fielder
Tyler Godwin lifted a sacrifice fly to center field that plated junior shortstop
Nathan Mori.
Waynesburg completed the comeback in the bottom of the sixth by playing station-to-station baseball. Reis walked and stole second before moving to third on a bunt single by freshman left fielder
Eli Kucherawy. Rubasky caught the Bearcats by surprise with a squeeze bunt that turned into an infield single that scored Reis with the game-tying tally. Two batters later, Mori came through with a single to right-center field that allowed Kucherawy to sprint home with the eventual game-winning run.
While his offense was making up for the early errors, Resnik shut down the Bearcat offense. SVC took a shot at sending the game to extra innings with a two-out, seventh-inning double, but the Jacket ace struck out the game's final batter to preserve the victory.
Resnik not only won his third-straight decision and upped his season record to 6-4, but he tied former Washington & Jefferson standout Eddie Nogay for the PAC career wins record (28). The senior righty didn't allow an earned run over seven innings of work. He scattered five hits and a walk over the complete-game effort, while striking out eight Bearcats.
Junior righty
Luke Carter matched Resnik's efforts on the mound in game two. He allowed just three singles and a double over a complete game of his own. He struck out three and walked two to pick up his third win of 2016.
The Jackets opened the scoring in their half of the first thanks to an RBI single by senior first baseman
Matt Bensinger that scored junior center fielder
Josh Hausler. Carter made the early score stand up until the sixth inning, when Waynesburg came up with three valuable insurance runs.
Bensinger tallied his second and third RBI of the late contest with a single that brought Hausler and junior third baseman
Cameron Bernhardt in to score. Junior designated hitter
Jonathon Kletzli plated the Jackets' final run of the day with a single of his own that scored Godwin.
Once again, Saint Vincent rallied late, but ultimately came up short of victory when it scored its only run of the game in inning number seven. After the Bearcats recorded back-to-back hits to open the frame, Carter and his defense retired the next three batters that came to the plate.
Bensinger paced the Waynesburg offense by going three-for-six over the sweep with a team-high two RBI. The Jacket bats cranked out 14 singles against Saint Vincent pitchers. Resnik and Carter combined for a 0.64 ERA and held the Bearcats to a .180 batting average.
Waynesburg will take a shot at punching its ticket for the PAC playoffs next week with its regular season-ending series against Westminster. The Jackets travel to New Wilmington, Pennsylvania, on Friday to start the series with a nine-inning contest. First pitch is scheduled for 4 p.m.
