WASHINGTON, Pa. (May 10) – The Waynesburg University baseball team saw its season come to an end on Friday in the elimination game of the 2019 Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) championship tournament. The third-seeded Yellow Jackets took an early lead, but fell to the fourth-seeded Bison 12-9.
 
Waynesburg (21-19) jumped out to a 2-0 advantage when senior centerfielder Mitch Nordstrom (Bethel Park, Pa. / Bethel Park) drilled a triple that scored junior second baseman Justin Buberl (Westminster, Md. / Westminster) to open the game's scoring. After giving up an out, the Jackets doubled their advantage to 2-0 when freshman catcher Tyler Woodrow (Gibsonia, Pa. / Pine-Richland) connected on an RBI groundout.
 
Unfortunately, Bethany (26-15) responded with a five-spot in the bottom of the opening inning. That lead grew to 6-2 in the second, before the Jacket offense got back on track with a Woodrow RBI single in the third that scored Nordstrom. Again, the Bison answered with their bats, this time picking up a score in the fourth and three more in the fifth.
 
Heading into the sixth, Waynesburg found itself in a 10-3 hole, but wasn't ready to see its season come to an end. Senior third baseman Tyler Reis (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Penn Hills) made the score 10-3 with a sacrifice fly RBI and was followed two batters later by an RBI single by Buberl.  
 
With its deficit reduced to 10-5, the Jackets made their final push to victory in the eighth. Sophomore right fielder Tyler Srbinovich (Warren, Ohio / Niles McKinley) got things going with a run-scoring infield single and was followed by sophomore Carter Uzzell's (Fairfax, Va. / Bishop O'Connell) RBI double. Senior first baseman Jordan Kowalski (Butler, Pa. / Knoch) pulled his team to within one of tying the game (10-9) with a two-run single.
 
Unfortunately, Waynesburg committed its only error of the postseason in the bottom of the eighth and it proved to be a costly one. The miscue allowed Bethany to score a pair of valuable insurance runs that brought about the eventual final score.
 
The Jackets nearly pulled off a memorable comeback in the top of the ninth. With two outs on the board, Nordstrom singled to keep the game alive. Senior leftfielder Tyler Godwin (Bridgeville, Pa. / South Fayette) followed with a base hit into outfield, but Nordstrom was thrown out going from second to third.
 
The game was dominated by both offenses, which combined for 39 hits, including 20 by the Yellow Jackets. Buberl and Nordstrom led the charge by tying for the game lead with four hits each. The latter also scored a game-high three runs. Godwin added a three-for-six effort at the dish.
 
Junior Jonny Kutchman (Johnstown, Pa. / Richland) started but only worked one third of an inning in his final start on the mound. He yielded five runs on six hits before turning the ball over to senior lefty Ty Wickline (Clarksburg, W.Va. / Liberty) who followed by giving up five runs over 3.2 frames.
 
Senior Colton Uzzell was effective in his final collegiate appearance, tossing two scoreless innings of two-hit ball with three strikeouts. Sophomore Zach Straub (Bethel Park, Pa. / Bethel Park) and Srbinovich recorded the final six outs of the contest.
 
NOTE: Bethany went on to upset second-seeded Grove City in a second-straight elimination contest to qualify for Saturday's championship series with Washington & Jefferson. The Bison need to defeat the Presidents twice to claim the PAC title. W&J needs one victory over Bethany to take the trophy in front of its home crowd. The last team standing qualifies for the NCAA Division III National Tournament.