WAYNESBURG, Pa. (March 30) – Saturday's Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) baseball doubleheader between Waynesburg and Bethany could be perfectly described as a tale of two games. Junior Yellow Jackets ace Mason Miller (Bethel Park, Pa. / Bethel Park) wove together another dominant masterpiece in the opener, before the Bison managed to salvage a win to close out the three-game season series in the late contest.
 
Miller improved to 4-1 in five starts by allowing a double and a single during a seven-inning complete-game effort. He piled up 15 strikeouts, including the first seven batters he faced.
 
Waynesburg (11-11, 5-3) tallied the only run of the early contest in the bottom of the first inning. Senior center fielder Mitch Nordstrom (Bethel Park, Pa. / Bethel Park) got things going with a one-out double and came around to score two batters later on an RBI single from junior first baseman Jonny Kutchman (Johnstown, Pa. / Richland).
 
Miller made the smallest of leads hold up and made his already impressive season statistics all the more impressive. He will head into next week with a miniscule 0.85 ERA and a .191 opposing batting average. His 52 batters struck out is not only tops in the PAC, but is 20 punchouts more than the pitcher in second place.
 
Unfortunately, things didn't go nearly as well for the home team in game two, which went to Bethany (14-6, 4-3) by a final score of 14-4. The Bison scored three runs in the top of the first inning, two more in the second and another in the fourth to build a 6-0 lead heading into the bottom half of the fifth frame.
 
The Jackets broke up the shutout in the fifth when junior shortstop Vinny Monico (Girard, Pa. / Girard) smacked a two-run double. After the visiting team got one of those two runs back in the top of the sixth, Monico drew a bases-loaded walk that made the score 7-3 Bethany.
 
Waynesburg pulled to within three runs of tying the score when freshman Evan Homison (Mars, Pa. / Mars) was hit by a pitch with the bases full of Yellow Jackets. Unfortunately, that was the last run scored by the Orange and Black on the day, while Bethany tacked on two runs in the eighth and sealed the day with a three-run homer in the ninth.
 
Senior Brandon Lawless (Carmichaels, Pa. / Carmichaels) started and suffered the loss on the bump after allowing five earned runs over an inning. He was the first of eight Waynesburg pitchers to log time on the mound, including senior Nate Gearhart (Hungtingdon, Pa. / Hungtingdon) and freshman Joe Sabolek (Lynnwood-Pricedale, Pa. / Belle Vernon), who both logged scoreless appearances.
 
Senior Alec Fantaskey (Williamsport, Pa. / Williamsport) went two-for-three at the plate, while Homison reached base three times, all by being hit by pitches. Monico logged a team-high three RBI in the setback.
 
Waynesburg is back in action on Wednesday, April 3, when it travels north to Washington for a single nine-inning game against Washington & Jefferson. First pitch is scheduled for 4:30 p.m.