WINTER HAVEN, Fla. (March 2) – The Waynesburg University baseball team opened its week-long run at the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational on Monday by playing a pair of seven-inning games against Bluffton. The Yellow Jackets showed their mettle by gritting out a pair of one-run victories (5-4, 8-7) against the Beavers.
 
Monday marked Waynesburg's (6-2) third doubleheader sweep of the season after having none one year ago.
 
Things started slowly in game one, as neither team was able to put any runs on the board through two innings. Bluffton (1-3) opened the scoring with a tally in the top of the third. That one-run edge only lasted until the bottom of the fourth, when the Waynesburg bats came to life.
 
With two outs on the board and the bases empty, junior Hunter Mamie (Eighty Four, Pa. / Ringgold) got things started with a walk. Graduate student Gavin Pratt (Carmichaels, Pa. / Carmichaels) followed with a single and the Orange and Black loaded the bases thanks to an infield single by freshman Mason Leonard (Latrobe, Pa. / Greater Latrobe).
 
Senior Noah Gabriel (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Shaler) came through in a big way with a bases-clearing triple that made the score 3-1. Sophomore Kaden Flambard (Bethel Park, Pa. / Bethel Park) kept the rally going with a run-scoring single that pushed the Jacket advantage to 4-1. Senior Jordan Mosley (St. Albans, W.Va. / St. Albans) collected his team's fifth-straight hit with a single that brought about a Bluffton pitching change. Freshman Eli Boring (Latrobe, Pa. / Greater Latrobe) plated Flambard with a base knock to make the score 5-1.
 
Senior Hunter Hamilton (Holbrook, Pa. / West Greene) made it seven-straight hits, but an out on the bases brought the inning to an end.
 
Bluffton answered the Jacket challenge in a big way with three runs in the fifth and three more in the sixth to take a 7-5 advantage. Waynesburg responded with a two spot in the bottom of the sixth to knot the score at 7-7. An RBI groundout by Mosley cut his team's deficit in half, before Boring ripped a game-tying double.
 
After holding the Beavers scoreless in the top of the seventh, the Jackets put runners on second and third with one out on the board. Leonard drove in the game-winning run when Bluffton tried to cut down pinch runner Alex Nicholson (Cortland, Ohio / Mathews) at the plate on a ground ball, but he beat the tag on the walk-off play.
 
Boring, Leonard and Gabel produced two hits each to make up the bulk of Waynesburg's 11 knocks in game one.
 
Pratt got the start on the mound and allowed three earned runs on three hits and four walks while striking out six over four innings of work. Sophomore Aydan Adamson (Carmichaels, Pa. / Carmichaels) was the fourth Jacket hurler to enter the contest and earned the win after recording the game's final four outs.
 
Game two had a similar start to it, as Bluffton got on the board first with two runs in the bottom of the third. Two innings later, the Jackets broke out for four runs in the top of the fifth with an RBI single by Mosley, a sac fly by Boring and a two-run single by Pratt.
 
Bluffton tide the game in the bottom of the sixth, setting the stage for more dramatics in the seventh.
 
Hamilton led off the frame with a walk, and was moved to second on a groundout. Pratt came through once again for Waynesburg, as he doubled in Hamilton to give his team the lead at 5-4.
 
Waynesburg's coaching staff turned things over to graduate student Nick Skoufalos (Cherry Hill, N.J. / Doane Academy) for the save in the bottom of the seventh. He got the job done with a groundout and two strikeouts surrounding a Bluffton single.
 
Mosley and Pratt connected on three hits each to account for all six of Waynesburg's knocks in the late contest. Senior Ethan Erhard (Greensburg, Pa. / Hempfield) got the start on the mound and allowed four runs on six hits and two walks, while picking up four strikeouts over 5.2 innings of work. He turned the ball over to senior Hudson Pincavitch (Waynesburg, Pa. / Waynesburg Central), who logged the third out in the sixth with a strikeout. That punchout gave him the decision in relief.
 
The Jackets are back at it tomorrow with a 10 a.m. contest against Wentworth Institute of Technology.