WINTER HAVEN, Fla. (March 2) – The Waynesburg University baseball team played its second doubleheader in as many days on Monday as part of its stay at the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational. The Yellow Jackets played two against Concordia (Minnesota) and came up short in both contests.
 
Waynesburg (1-3) scored first in both meetings with the Cobbers (3-1), but was unable to make either of the early leads hold up for a victory. Game one was an entertaining back-and-forth matchup that saw both squad take multi-run advantages.
 
The Jackets got off to a great start by scoring three runs in the bottom of the first inning when junior Chris Lee (Bethel Park, Pa. / Bethel Park) cleared the bases with a no-out double. Two batters later, Waynesburg had runners on second and third with one out, but couldn't push another score home.
 
Senior starting pitcher Jonny Kutchman (Johnstown, Pa. / Richland) made the lead hold up until the top of the fifth, when Concordia went off for seven runs that chased the veteran righty from the mound. After failing to respond in the bottom of the frame, the Jackets rediscovered its offense in the sixth.
 
First-year junior Ryan Mills (Westminster, Md. / Westminster) started the rally with an RBI single that made the score 7-4. Two batters later, sophomore Tyler Woodrow (Gibsonia, Pa. / Pine-Richland) plated his team's fifth score of the opener to pull the Orange and Black to within two runs. The next batter, senior Justin Buberl (Westminster, Md. / Westminster) completed the comeback with a two-out, two-run double the knotted things up at 7-7.
 
The Cobbers ended the offensive outburst during the next at-bat. Unfortunately, they also took the lead right back with a two-out run-scoring hit of their own that brought the eventual game-winning tally across home plate. The Jackets put the game-tying and game-winning runs on base in their half of the seventh, but couldn't come up with one last two-out hit.
 
Kutchman was practically untouchable through the first four innings. He took a no-decision after yielding four runs on four hits and three walks over 4.1 innings on the hill. He logged seven strikeouts on the day. Senior Carter Uzzell (Fairfax, Va. / Bishop O'Connell) took the loss in relief after giving up the game-deciding score during his only inning of relief.
 
Waynesburg scored the first and last runs of the late contest. Unfortunately, the Cobbers scored pretty much everything else in their 13-3 sweep-clinching win.
 
An error gave the Orange and Black the game's score in the top of the first. Concordia answered with five runs in the second, four in the third and four in the fourth to take a 13-1 lead heading into the top of the fifth. Woodrow doubled in a pair of teammates to close out the day, as the game was called heading into the bottom of inning.
 
Sophomore Joe Sabolek started and suffered the loss on the mound. The big righty lasted 2.1 innings and gave up eight runs, but only three of them were earned. Fielding mistakes certainly played a role in the loss, as three Waynesburg errors played a role in six unearned runs.
 
Lee led the Waynesburg offense by going three-for-five on the day with a double and three RBI. Buberl and senior Vinny Monico (Girard, Pa. / Girard) both went three-for-six on the day. Monico scored a team-high three runs scored over the twin-bill.
 
The Yellow Jackets are right back on the diamond tomorrow when they play two non-consecutive games. Waynesburg's first game comes against John Carroll at 9 a.m. They'll follow with a 12:30 p.m. showdown with Albion.