WAYNESBURG, Pa. (April 23) – Vincent Turner (Bridgeport, W.Va. / Bridgeport) blasted a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 17th inning to deliver the Waynesburg baseball team to a 13-11 victory over Chatham in a marathon Presidents' Athletic Conference game at the Waynesburg University Baseball & Softball Complex on Wednesday afternoon.

The Yellow Jackets (7-25, 3-12 PAC) led 6-0 after three innings but the Cougars (14-19, 6-9 PAC) battled back to take a 10-9 lead in the eighth. The team's went to extra innings tied at 10. Both teams notched a run in the 12th as the two squads played seven scoreless extra frames. Turner belted a no-doubted over the right field fence to cap the ballgame.

The 17-inning, five-hour and 25-minute game is the longest game by innings played by Waynesburg at least 22 seasons, dating back to 2003. The second game of the Jackets' and Cougars' PAC doubleheader will be played tomorrow at Chatham at 7:15 p.m.

With the game knotted at 10, Peter Tadic put the Cougars ahead with a solo home run to start the 12th inning. Alex Nicholson (Cortland, Ohio / Mathews), who had posted scoreless 10th and 11th innings, settled down after allowing a base hit to strike out the next three batters to end the inning.

Garrett Comer (St. Albans, W.Va. / St. Albans) and Aidan Williams (Shaler, Pa. / Shaler) each worked walks in the bottom of the 12th, but the Jackets were down to their final out. Trent Giraffa (Hanover, Pa. / Delone Catholic) knocked a double to the left-field fence to tie the game, but the game-winning run was stranded at third. 

Both teams made standout defensive plays during the extra innings. Waynesburg ended the 10th inning with a 4-3-6 double play and Danny Flynn (Mt. Lebanon, Pa. / Mt. Lebanon) tracked down a ball in deep left center with a pair of runners on in the 15th. In the bottom of the 16th, Chatham center fielder Devin Fluhmann made a diving grab in the right-center field gap, robbing Giraffa of extra bases.

Zach Scibelli (Ravenna, Ohio / Ravenna) retired all six batters he faced in the 16th and 17th innings. Connor Hamrick (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Shaler) reached on a throwing error before Turner provided the extra-inning heroics with his first home run as a Jacket.

Waynesburg raced out to an early lead as the Jackets scored four runs on a single hit, a two-run base hit by Comer, in the second. Marcos Mendez (Ponce, Puerto Rico / Westminster (Md.)) and Hamrick each notched an RBI single in the third to grow the Jacket lead to 6-0. Waynesburg could have done even more damage offensively, but double plays helped Chatham escape the second and third innings.

Chatham broke through with five runs on six hits in the fifth to make it a one-run ballgame. Waynesburg plated three runs on a balk and a two-run single by Mendez in the sixth to lead 9-5.

The Cougars scored on a bases loaded walk in the seventh but left three runners stranded. Chatham struck for four more runs in the eighth to go ahead 10-9 on a two-out RBI single.

Hamrick ripped a two-out RBI single down the first-base line to tie the game in the bottom of the eighth. Chatham left two runners on in the ninth before the teams went into extras.

Chatham had 20 hits, four for extra bases and left 16 runners on. The Jackets notched 19 hits, five extra-base hits, with 13 walks and left 20 on. 

Seven different Jackets notched multi-hit games as Waynesburg went through its entire lineup eight full times. Comer had three hits, two runs and two RBI. 

Mendez had two hits and three RBI. Hamrick had two hits, doubled and scored twice. Williams and Giraffa each doubled and scored two runs. Turner went 2-for-3 with his home run and two RBI after entering the game as a defensive replacement in the top of the ninth. 

Both teams used seven pitchers in the ballgame. Ethan Erhard (Greensburg, Pa. / Hempfield) started the game and allowed four runs, two earned, in 4.2 innings with three strikeouts. Nicholson posted two scoreless innings and allowed just a solo home run in the 12th. Mike McCready (Greensburg, Pa. / Greensburg Central Catholic) did not allow a run in the 13th or 14th innings. Matt Corte-Gaskill (Wake Forest, N.C. / Knightdale) left the bases loaded in the 15th before Scibelli went six-up, six-down in the 16th and 17th.

Waynesburg takes on Chatham tomorrow evening before hosting Geneva and Hiram on Friday and Sunday.