WAYNESBURG, Pa. (May 4) – It was a day to celebrate for the Waynesburg University baseball team when it hosted Thiel College for the final home date of the season. Prior to game one, the Yellow Jackets celebrated senior day, honoring its nine senior members. Then they swept the Tomcats, locking down third place in the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) and securing their spot in the upcoming conference playoffs.
 
Waynesburg (21-16, 15-8) qualified for the four-team league tournament for the first time since 2015. The sweep was felt elsewhere in the PAC, as Thiel (16-22, 12-11) was eliminated from postseason contention, leaving the number-four spot for Bethany. Washington & Jefferson will be the top seed, while Grove City has the number-two spot.
 
The Jackets needed just one win to reserve their spot in the playoffs and put their best foot forward by sending junior ace Mason Miller (Bethel Park, Pa. / Bethel Park) to the mound for game one. Miller did what has become the expected norm for him in 2019 by dominating the top hitting team in the PAC.
 
The righty ace improved to 8-2 on the year after limiting the Cats, who are currently hitting a league-best .333, to one run on a double, two singles and three walks over a seven-inning complete game. Miller also piled up seven strikeouts in his most recent victory.
 
After silencing the Thiel bats on Saturday, Miller leads the conference in ERA (1.46), opposing batting average (.181) and strikeouts (92). His eight wins are good for second in the league.
 
Waynesburg scored both of its runs in the bottom of the second inning on a pair of RBI singles. Junior right fielder Tyler Srbinovich (Warren, Ohio / Niles McKinley) opened the scoring by driving in senior leftfielder Tyler Godwin (Bridgeville, Pa. / South Fayette). Two batters later, junior second baseman Justin Buberl came through in the clutch by plating junior catcher John Przbylinski (Connellsville, Pa. / Connellsville) with the eventual game-winning run.
 
Thiel finally got to Miller for its only run after connecting on two of its three hits on the day. From that point on, however, the game belonged to the junior standout. He capped his most recent victory by retiring the Tomcats in order in the top of the seventh with groundout, a strikeout and a lineout.
 
Five different Waynesburg hitters collected one hit each in the victory. Senior centerfielder Mitch Nordstrom (Bethel Park, Pa. / Bethel Park) reached base twice via walks.
 
Game two saw the visiting team build a 4-0 lead after scoring a run in the top of the first inning and three more in the third. The Waynesburg bats started clicking in the bottom of the third when Godwin and junior first baseman Jonny Kutchman (Johnstown, Pa. / Richland) collected RBI singles. Senior third baseman Tyler Reis closed the scoring in the frame with a run-scoring fielder's choice play.
 
Srbinovich delivered the biggest hit of the game to that point with a solo homerun in the fourth to tie the game at 4-4. Nordstrom put Waynesburg ahead for the first time in the late contest with a fielder's choice RBI in the fifth. A costly error during the at-bat of freshman catcher Tyler Woodrow (Gibsonia, Pa. / Pine-Richland) stretched the advantage to 6-4 later in the inning.
 
The Orange and Black doubled its advantage to 8-4 in the sixth thanks to RBI singles by Kutchman and Nordstrom, the latter of which proved to be the game-winning run. The Tomcats rallied for two runs in the seventh, but Srbinovich had one more big hit left in him, singling in Reis with the day's final tally in the eighth.
 
After managing just a handful of singles in the opener, the Jacket offense nearly tripled its output in its second win of the day. Godwin led the way with four hits, including a double, in five at-bats. He drove in a runs and scored three times. Kutchman and Srbinovich added respective three-for-four showings to help in the winning cause.
 
A pair of senior honorees played major roles on the mound. Ty Wickline (Clarksburg, W.Va. / Liberty) started and allowed four runs over 2.2 innings of work. Colton Uzzell (Fairfax, Va. / Bishop O'Connell) continued a strong season out of the bullpen while improving to 4-0 on the year. He worked 3.1 hitless, scoreless innings against the Tomcats, during which he struck out two and walked two more. Srbinovich picked up his team-leading third save of the season by allowing a hit and a walk over two innings with two strikeouts.
 
Waynesburg and Thiel are scheduled to wrap up their respective regular seasons on Monday with a nine-inning game in Greenville. First pitch is scheduled to be thrown at 4 p.m.