WAYNESBURG, Pa. (March 21) – The Waynesburg University baseball team opened the home portion of its schedule on Tuesday by hosting La Roche for a seven-inning doubleheader. The Yellow Jackets fell to the perennial national tournament qualifier by the final scores of 9-1 and 6-4.
 
The losses snapped a five-game winning streak for the Jackets (5-6), with all of those victories coming during the team's spring trip in Florida.
 
The Redhawks (7-5) struck early and often in the opener, scoring a run in the first inning, four in the third, two in the fourth and one more in the fifth to jump ahead 8-0. Waynesburg broke up the shutout in the bottom of the frame when junior Tyler Godwin connected on an RBI double that drove in freshman Justin Buberl. La Roche answered the score with one more run in sixth.
 
Senior Derek Whalen started and suffered the loss after giving up five runs, all earned, on eight hits over 2.1 innings of work. Freshman Jonny Kutchman and junior Noah Lolley made appearances out of the bullpen.
 
Game two was a much more tightly contested affair. After the visiting team opened the scoring with a run in the top of the first inning, the Jackets were able to piece together a tying score in the bottom of the frame. Sophomore Tyler Reis led off with a single before stealing second base. After moving to third on a fly-out, Reis came home on a sacrifice fly by senior first baseman Jonathon Kletzli.
 
The Jackets grabbed their first-and-only lead of the day in the second when senior catcher Ben Miller teed off on his first homerun of the season. The solo shot gave the home team a 2-1 advantage.
 
La Roche surged back ahead with two runs in the third inning and two more in the fourth to take a 5-2 lead. Waynesburg wasn't ready to give up the fight, as it rallied for a pair of scores in the sixth. Another Jacket senior, Cameron Bernhardt, launched his team's second long ball of the day to pull his team to within a run. Bernhardt's first homer of the year also brought sophomore Eli Kucherawy trotting home from first base.
 
Unfortunately, the Redhawks were able to plate an insurance run in the top of the seventh on a solo homerun to bring about the eventual final score. The Jackets put runners on second and third with nobody out, and then loaded the bags with just one out, but were unable to push the necessary two scores home.
 
Senior Jacob Meyer took the loss on the mound after yielding five runs, only three of which were earned, on eight hits and two walks. Freshman Mason Miller was impressive in his home debut on the mound. The first-year righty allowed just one hit and struck out three over two shutout innings. Senior Scott Hefty worked the seventh.
 
Godwin, Bernhardt and Reis all logged three hits each during the doubleheader. Godwin smacked two doubles and added a walk against the Redhawks. Miller went two-for-two in the late contest.
 
Waynesburg is back in action on Friday, March 24, when it hosts Westminster to open Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) play. First pitch of the nine-inning game is scheduled for 3 p.m.