WAYNESBURG, Pa. (March 22) – The Waynesburg University baseball team hosted Geneva for a nine-inning game on Tuesday to open the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) portion of its schedule. The Yellow Jackets grabbed a 4-3 lead, but was unable to hold it in a 6-5 contest.
 
Geneva (5-9, 1-0) got off to a fast start by putting up three runs in the top of the first inning. Waynesburg (4-9, 0-1) matched that output in the bottom of the second.
 
An opportunistic Yellow Jacket squad took advantage of an error during the at-bat of sophomore third baseman Mike Bell (Herminie, Pa. / Yough) to put runners on second and third with one out. Freshman pitcher Alec Engelmore (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Shaler) was also the benefactor of good fortune when he lined a pitch off the leg of Geneva's starting pitcher to reach on an infield single and bring home graduate assistant right fielder Brandon Durbin (Cresson, Pa. / Bishop Carroll) to break up the shutout.
 
Fortune shined on the Jackets yet again when a wild pitch during the at-bat of senior first baseman Cody Ray (St. Clairsville, Ohio / Union Local) not only allowed Bell to score, but sent Engelmore all the way from first to third. After Ray walked and then was caught attempting to steal, a two-out error during the at-bat of freshman leftfielder Bryce Bedilion (Clarksville, Pa. / Jefferson-Morgan) allowed Engelmore to sprint home with the tying tally.
 
The score stayed knotted up until the bottom of the fourth, when Durbin brought the home crowd to life with a solo homerun to left-center field that gave the Jackets their only lead of the day at 4-3.
 
Unfortunately, the advantage was short-lived, as Geneva tied things back up in the top of the fifth and used a two-spot in the top of the sixth to move ahead 6-4. Waynesburg cut the deficit in half in the bottom of the eighth, when freshman shortstop Todd Burner (Parkersburg, W.Va. / Parkersburg South) teed off on a one-run bomb of his own that made the score 6-5. It was Burner's second long ball of the 2022 campaign.
 
A Bedilion single put the game-tying run on the bases with two outs on the board in the bottom of the ninth. Unfortunately, that was as close as the home team came to completing the comeback.
 
Both teams were hindered by struggles in the field, as Waynesburg committed four errors and Geneva suffered a pair of gaffes with the gloves.
 
Bedilion led the Jacket offense with a pair of base hits and a stolen base.
 
Williams started and took a no-decision after allowing four runs, three of which were earned, on nine hits and a walk over five innings of work. Sophomore Ryan Sullivan (Taylorstown, Pa. / McGuffey) suffered the loss after tossing one frame of relief. He yielded two runs, one of which was earned, on three hits. Sophomore Justin Clevenger (McDonald, Pa. / South Fayette) did all he could to keep Waynesburg in the final third of the game by twirling three innings of one-hit, shutout baseball.
 
Waynesburg is off until Friday, March 25, when it hosts Franciscan for another nine-inning PAC tilt. First pitch is scheduled for 4 p.m.