BETHANY, W.Va. (May 1) – The Waynesburg University baseball team traveled across the border to West Virginia on Saturday for a Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) doubleheader at Bethany. Waynesburg took game one 4-3, but dropped game two 6-3.
 
After Bethany (14-18, 12-12) took a 1-0 lead in the first inning of the seven-inning opener, Waynesburg (11-18, 8-15), senior Tyler Srbinovich (Warren, Oho / Niles McKinley) emphatically gave his team the lead with a two-run homer in the third. Senior Chris Lee (Bethel Park, Pa. / Bethel Park) added to the Jacket advantage with an RBI single in the fourth.
 
Bethany tied the game with a two-run homer in the fourth, but Waynesburg was able to regain the lead in the fifth, when freshman Zach Boslet (Altoona, Pa. / Altoona) scored on a Bethany error to bring about the eventual final score.
 
Srbinovich was excellent in relief of junior starting pitcher Cody Ray (St. Clairsville, Ohio / Union Local) in closing out the win for his third save of the season. Srbinovich tossed two perfect innings with one strikeout to close out the victory for Ray. Ray gave up three earned runs on five hits and a walk, while logging three strikeouts.
 
Game two, a nine-inning affair, didn't see its first run scored until Ray drove in junior Ty Kildow (Bethesda, Ohio / Union Local) to make the score 1-0 in the top of the third. Bethany took control of the matchup with two runs in the fifth and three more in the sixth to jump ahead 5-1.
 
Waynesburg cut into the deficit when sophomore Joe Kraft (Munhall, Pa. / Steel Valley) singled in junior Evan Homison (Mars, Pa. / Mars) in the seventh to make the score 5-2. The Bison homered in the eighth to rebuild their four-run lead (6-2).
 
The Jackets took one last shot at a comeback in the top of the ninth. Homison came up with a one-out RBI single that made the score 6-3. Unfortunately, the next two Waynesburg hitters were retired in order to close out the day.
 
Waynesburg took the loss, despite out-hitting Bethany by a 13-8 margin. Senior Brandon Durbin led the charge with three hits. Boslet and Kraft added two knocks each in the late contest. Every spot in the batting order produced at least one hit each in the loss.
 
Senior Zach Straub (Bethel Park, Pa. / Bethel Park) started on the mound and took the loss after giving up five runs on six hits and two walks over 5.1 innings of work. Freshman Ryan Sullivan (Taylorstown, Pa. / McGuffey) allowed one run on two hits and a walk over the final 2.2 innings of the trip.
 
Waynesburg returns to competition on Tuesday, when it travels to Chatham for a single nine-inning game against the Cougars. First pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m.