STEUBENVILLE, Ohio (April 21) – The Waynesburg University baseball team traveled to Franciscan on Thursday for a Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) doubleheader. The host Barons swept both ends of the twin bill.
Franciscan (12-13, 4-8) took the opener 4-2 and followed that up with a 21-10 triumph in game two.
Waynesburg (9-21, 5-13) posted the first run of the day when graduate student
Brandon Durbin (Cresson, Pa. / Bishop Carroll) connected on a solo homerun in the top of the first inning. It was his second long ball of the season.
Franciscan responded by tallying two runs in its half of the opening frame to take a 3-1 lead that it never relinquished over the remainder of the opener. It added a score in the second and tacked on an extra insurance run in the fifth to take a 4-1 lead.
The Jackets posted the game's final run in the seventh, when sophomore
Mike Bell (Herminie, Pa. / Yough) drove in freshman
Bryce Bedilion (Clarksville, Pa. / Jefferson-Morgan).
Freshman
Aidan Williams (Shaler, Pa. / Shaler) worked a complete game on the mound for the Jackets. He allowed three earned runs on eight hits and four walks, while striking out five opposing hitters.
Waynesburg got off to another quick start in game two thanks to a three-run top of the first inning. Durbin got things rolling again, this time with an RBI single. The fourth of four-straight Jacket singles was a two-run hit off the bat of Bell that tripled the visiting team's advantage. A double play helped Franciscan halt the Orange and Black's opening outburst.
Things really appeared to be going Waynesburg's way when it posted another three-run frame in the top of the second. Freshman
Seth Burgdolt (Claysville, Pa. / McGuffey) made the score 4-0 with an RBI double. Burgdolt came in to score during the ensuing at-bat of freshman
Tyler Sullivan (Wesley Chapel, Fla. / Wesley Chapel). The Jackets manufactured their final run of the inning when freshman
Alec Engelmore (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Shaler) lifted a sacrifice fly to centerfield that sent Sullivan sprinting home to grow the visiting team's advantage to 6-0.
Everything seemed to be going Waynesburg's way until the bottom of the second rolled around. Franciscan completely changed the look of the contest thanks to a 12-run effort. The Barons needed just six hits to post the dozen runs. They were helped out by five walks and two hit batsmen.
The Barons added two runs in the bottom of the third to make the score 14-6. Waynesburg chipped away with a run in the fourth and another in the fifth. Bell brought in run number seven with another RBI single. Burgdolt followed with a run-scoring double.
Franciscan re-established a double-digit lead (18-8) thanks to four runs in the bottom of the fifth. The victors tallied their final scores in the bottom of the seventh, before the Jackets logged their final two runs of the day in the top of the second. Sophomore
Emmanuel Stitch (Charleroi, Pa. / Serra Catholic) had a night to remember by recording his first collegiate homerun, which was a two-run bomb.
Waynesburg suffered the lopsided loss, despite out-hitting Franciscan by a 15-13 margin. Bell led the offense by going three-for-four with two RBIs. Bedilion, Burgdolt and Sullivan chipped in two hits each, while Englemore went one-for-two with two talks, an RBI and two runs scored.
Five different Waynesburg pitchers combined to work eight innings in game two.
The Jackets return home on Saturday, April 23, when they host Saint Vincent for another PAC doubleheader. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m.
