WAYNESBURG, Pa. (March 28) – The Waynesburg University baseball team hosted Chatham for a Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) doubleheader on Tuesday. The Yellow Jackets bounced back from a 6-2 setback in game one to score a 6-1 victory in the late contest.
Chatham (10-8, 3-1) opened the scoring when a run came home on a balk in the top of the first inning. Two frames later, Waynesburg (6-12, 2-2) tied things up at 1-1 thanks to an RBI fielder's choice play hit into by sophomore Seth Burgdolt (Taylorstown, Pa. / McGuffey). Senior Todd Burner (Parkersburg, W.Va. / Parkersburg South) sprinted home with the score.
The Cougars regained the lead and produced the eventual game-winning run after posting a two spot in the top of the fourth. Waynesburg cut into its deficit when junior Nolan Vertullo (Pittsburgh, Pa. / South Fayette) produced a run on an RBI groundout that allowed sophomore Bryce Bedilion (Clarksville, Pa. / Jefferson-Morgan) to score in the bottom of the frame.
Unfortunately, the Jacket offense stalled over the remainder of the opener, while Chatham tallied an insurance run in the sixth, another in the seventh and a final score in the eighth.
Bedilion paced the Waynesburg offense by going two-for-four with a single and a triple.
Freshman Gavin Pratt (Carmichaels, Pa. / Carmichaels) got the start on the mound and suffered the loss after allowing four runs, only one of which was earned, on five hits and four walks over six innings. He tallied five strikeouts, three of which came when he punched out the side in the first.
Fellow freshman Dalton Lucey (Holbrook, Pa. / West Greene) worked the final three innings on the bump. He gave up two runs on four hits and posted a pair of strikeouts.
The home team turned things around in a big way in game two and ended Chatham's three-game winning streak. It was just the second loss for the Cougars over their last nine contests.
Freshman Ethan Erhard (Greensburg, Pa. / Hempfield) stole the show for the Jackets by putting together the team's top pitching performance of the 2023 campaign. The first-year righty tossed a nine-inning complete game and didn't allow a run until the ninth inning when Waynesburg had already built a 6-0 lead. Erhard gave up four singles, three doubles and no walks while piling up a team-season-high seven strikeouts in his first collegiate victory.
Ironically, just like Chatham did in game one, Waynesburg picked up its first run of the game on a first-inning balk. The Jackets upheld that 1-0 edge until the fourth when sophomore Alec Engelmore (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Shaler) singled Burner home to double his team's advantage. Two batters later, freshman Hunter Hamilton (Holbrook, Pa. / West Greene) connected on a two-run single that made the score 4-0.
Waynesburg's lead expanded to 5-0 in the bottom of the sixth when sophomore Dalton Mount (Sykesville, Md. / Westminster) sprinted home on a passed ball. The Jackets' final run of the day came in style as Hamilton teed off on his first collegiate homerun with two outs in the frame.
Erhard and the defense did the rest to seal up the win. Perhaps the only negative of game two was Waynesburg coming one out shy of completing the shutout.
Burgdolt and Hamilton led Waynesburg with a pair of hits each. Bedilion logged his third triple of the season, which puts him in a tie for second place in the PAC.
After playing 10 of its last 12 games at home, the Jackets will travel to Franciscan on Saturday to face the Barons for another conference twin bill that is scheduled to get underway at 1 p.m. Those two games mark the beginning of an eight-game stretch away from their home facility.
