WAYNESBURG, Pa. (April 12) – The Waynesburg University baseball team welcomed Westminster to town on Wednesday for a Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) doubleheader. The Yellow Jackets rallied from four down to force extra innings, but fell 9-7 in game one. They bounced back by leading from start to finish in a 7-2 triumph in the late contest.
Things started well for Waynesburg (10-18, 6-6) in the opener, as the home team jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first. Sophomore
Seth Burgdolt (Taylorstown, Pa. / McGuffey) started his day with a bang by tripling in sophomore
Bryce Bedilion (Clarksville, Pa. / Jefferson-Morgan), who led off with a walk. Junior
Mike Bell (Herminie, Pa. / Yough) followed with an RBI groundout that sent Burgdolt home.
Thanks in part to three outstanding innings from freshman
Gavin Pratt (Carmichaels, Pa. / Carmichaels), the Jackets maintained their 2-0 lead. Unfortunately, momentum took a big swing in the top of the fourth, as the Titans (12-12, 5-3) broke out for six runs in the frame.
Despite the outburst, Waynesburg kept its composure and slowly chipped away at the four-run deficit. The Jackets manufactured their third run of the day when junior
Lane Ours (Moorefield, W.Va. / Moorefield) produced a sacrifice fly that brought Burgdolt sprinting home to make the score 6-3.
Once again, Waynesburg took a small ball approach to its offense. This time, with runners on second and third, Burgdolt slapped an RBI groundout that plated junior
Nolan Vertullo (Pittsburgh, Pa. / South Fayette) and cut Westminster's lead to two.
Run number five came with some flair, as Ours teed off on a solo homerun with two outs on the board in the eighth. Still in need of a run to complete the comeback, the Jackets used the long ball again to tie the score at 6-6 in the ninth. This time, it was Bedilion who flashed his power by ripping a two-out, one-run bomb.
Freshman
Dalton Lucey (Holbrook, Pa. / West Greene) was masterful on the mound during Wayneburg's comeback and gave his team 4.2 no-hit, shutout innings. Unfortunately, Westminster was finally able to figure out the rookie righty in the top of the 10
th. The Titans used three hits, a hit batsman and two walks (one intentional) to push three runs across home plate and take a 9-6 advantage.
The Jackets took another shot at a comeback when sophomore
Dalton Mount (Sykesville, Md. / Westminster) came through with a two-out, pinch-hit RBI single. Unfortunately, Westminster came up with the final out of the opener to lock up the victory.
Lucey suffered the hard-luck loss on the mound in relief. His final line featured three earned runs on three hits and two walks. He logged four strikeouts in his most recent appearance on the mound. Similarly, Pratt had a great day ruined by one bad inning. The righty yielded six runs, all earned, on five hits and four walks. Pratt logged five punchouts in his most recent outing.
Burgdolt came a homerun shy of hitting for the cycle during a 3-5 effort at the dish. He tallied two RBIs and two runs scored. Ours also produced a multi-hit effort by going 2-4 with two RBIs and a run scored.
Once again, the Jackets turned to a first-year pitcher to take the ball in game two. This time it was
Ethan Erhard (Greensburg, Pa. / Hempfield) who got the call, which he answered by scattering nine hits and four walks over eight innings on his way to his second win as a collegiate pitcher. Erhard collected five strikeouts, which gives him a team-high 27 for the season.
Another fast start allowed Erhard to work with a lead for the entirety of his start. The Jackets scored three runs in the bottom of the first, all with two outs on the board. Sophomore
Alec Engelmore (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Shaler) opened the scoring by singling home Burgdolt. After junior
Marcos Mendez (Ponce, Puerto Rico / Westminster (Md.)) reached base on an error, Ours smacked a two-run double that turned out to be the game-winning hit.
The Jackets retained their three-run advantage until the third, when the Titans got on the board with an unearned run. Westminster made the score 3-2 with a score in the fifth, but that was as close as the visitors came to completing a sweep of the day's events.
Waynesburg responded in a big way by scoring the game's final four runs in its half of the fifth. After Mendez lifted a sacrifice fly that allowed Burgdolt to score yet again, Ours brought in Engelmore with a two-out double. Pratt appeared to take out a lot of frustration from game one by blasting a two-run homer that brought about the eventual final score of 7-2.
Pratt's long ball gives Waynesburg a PAC-leading 22 on the spring.
Erhardt worked three more innings on the bump before turning the ball over to Waynesburg's fourth freshman pitcher of the day.
Zach Scibelli (Ravenna, Ohio / Ravenna) gave up a leadoff single, but settled down to induce a flyout to right field followed by a game-ending double play.
Four Jackets produced multiple hits in game two to account for the vast majority of Waynesburg's 10 hits. Engelmore connected on a game-high 3 hits in 4 at-bats, while Ours, Pratt and Mount tallied a pair of knocks each in the winning effort.
Waynesburg is back in action on Saturday, when it travels to PAC-leading Washington & Jefferson. The Jackets face the three-time defending conference champs for a 1 p.m. doubleheader.
