LATROBE, Pa. (April 29) – The Waynesburg University baseball team traveled to Latrobe today for an afternoon Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) doubleheader with Saint Vincent. Junior
Mason Miller (Bethel Park, Pa. / Bethel Park) pitched his team to a 5-0 shutout win in the opener, before the Bearcats salvaged a split with an 11-4 win in game two.
The victory in game one gave the Jackets (19-16, 13-8) their fifth series victory out of seven three-game sets against PAC opposition. Heading into Tuesday, Waynesburg sits in third place in the conference standings. The Jackets are now just one win away from locking down a spot in the four-team league championship tournament. The Jackets could still finish as high as second in the final regular season standings.
Miller bounced back from a rare loss to Grove City on April 24, with another dominant performance on the mound. The righty improved to 7-2 on the season after giving up just five singles and a walk to the Bearcats (19-16, 11-10). He punched up 13 strikeouts on the afternoon, giving him a PAC-best 85 on the season. He is also tops in the league in ERA (1.48) and opposing batting average (.188).
Miller got all the offensive support he needed in the second inning when senior leftfielder
Tyler Godwin (Bridgeville, Pa. / South Fayette) teed off on a two-run homerun to open the scoring. It was Godwin's second in as many days and third overall, which ties him for the team lead.
The Jackets added extra insurance with a fifth-inning RBI single from junior first baseman
Jonny Kutchman (Johnstown, Pa. / Richland) that, when combined with an error, led to a pair of runs. Waynesburg closed the day's scoring with a fielder's choice RBI from junior second baseman
Justin Buberl (Westminster, Md. / Westminster) in the sixth.
Waynesburg looked primed for a sweep of both the doubleheader and the three-game season series after plating three runs in the first inning of game two. Godwin added to another productive day at the dish with a two-run opposite field single. He eventually came around to score the third tally of the frame.
Unfortunately, the Saint Vincent bats came alive for their biggest inning of the series. After plating their first run in the second, the Bearcats exploded for seven scores in the fifth that put the game out of reach. The home team tacked on a run in the sixth and two more in the eighth before Kutchman drove in senior centerfielder
Mitch Nordstrom (Bethel Park, Pa. / Bethel Park) with the day's final run in the top of the ninth.
Junior
Ty Wickline (Clarksburg, W.Va. / Liberty) suffered the loss on the mound after starting and allowing six runs on seven hits and a walk over 4.1 innings. A trio of Jacket hurlers came in from the bullpen to close out the late contest.
Kutchman posted a team-high five base hits in seven at-bats, while Nordstrom and Godwin recorded three hits each on the road trip.
Waynesburg's postseason future rests on the final three-game series of the 2019 season, which features the Thiel Tomcats. The two teams meet up for a single nine-inning game in Greenville on Friday, May 3, at 4 p.m. The Jackets' final action of the regular season is scheduled for Saturday, when they host the Tomcats for senior day.
