MEADVILLE, Pa. (March 21) – The Waynesburg University baseball team opened Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) play on Saturday with a doubleheader at Allegheny. The Yellow Jackets were swept by the Gators by the final scores of 10-0 (7 innings) and 3-2.
 
Allegheny (10-6, 2-0) scored twice in the first, twice in the second, three times in third, twice in the fourth and once in the sixth to secure victory.
 
Freshman Austan Runtas (Slippery Rock, Pa. / Slippery Rock) and sophomore Mo Kiger (Waynesburg, Pa. / West Greene) were solid out of the Waynesburg (7-11, 0-2) bullpen. The duo combined to give up one earned run over 3.2 innings of work. Kiger logged three strikeouts over his two frames on the bump.
 
Game two was a completely different contest from its predecessor as Yellow Jacket pitching dominated the Allegheny bats through eight innings. Graduate student Gavin Pratt (Carmichaels, Pa. / Carmichaels) got the ball rolling by twirling four shutout innings during which he allowed two hits and two walks.
 
Pratt left the bump with the lead thanks to a run in the third. Senior Noah Gabriel (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Shaler) drew a one-out walk and stole second during the at-bat of sophomore Kaden Flambard (Bethel Park, Pa. / Bethel Park). Flambard brought him the rest of the way home with an RBI single.
 
Senior Ethan Erhard (Greensburg, Pa. / Hempfield) picked up where Pratt left off by producing four shutout innings. Meanwhile, the Jacket bats doubled the Orange and Black advantage with some nifty base running in the sixth. Senior Hunter Hamilton (Holbrook, Pa. / West Greene) singled to lead off the inning and stole second. A bunt single by freshman Jose Lopez, Jr. (Lewis Center, Ohio / Olentangy Orange) put runners on the corners with just one out on the board. Lopez then attempted to steal second, but then got himself caught in a rundown that gave Hamilton the time to sprint home from third and make the score 2-0.
 
Unfortunately, Allegheny was able to finally solve Waynesburg's pitching in the bottom of the ninth, when it scored all three of its runs on four hits, the last of which was a one-out, two-run walk-off single.
 
Erhart suffered the loss despite allowing just six hits over his four-plus innings, with half of them coming in decisive ninth. He piled up six strikeouts and didn't walk an opposing hitter.
 
Flambard paced Waynesburg offensively with a pair of hits in three at-bats.
 
The Jackets are back in action on Tuesday, March 24, when they host Franciscan for a PAC doubleheader. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m.