GROVE CITY, Pa. (April 9) – The Waynesburg University baseball team traveled to Grove City on Thursday for a Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) doubleheader. The Yellow Jackets were swept by the Wolverines by the final scores of 18-3 and 14-10.
Grove City (11-12, 6-4) jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning and never looked back on its way to the win. Waynesburg (10-18, 1-9) scored all three of its runs in the top of the sixth.
Senior
Noah Gabriel (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Shaler) went 2-for-3 with a stolen base to highlight the Jackets' efforts in the opener.
Game two was a wild affair that featured 30 hits and at least one run scored in every inning but the fifth and ninth frames.
Grove City again opened the scoring and led 3-0 after the second. Waynesburg tied the game in the top of the third thanks to an RBI double by freshman
Eli Boring (Latrobe, Pa. / Greater Latrobe), a run-scoring single by freshman
Luke Buckner (Charleston, W.Va. / St. Albans) and an RBI single by freshman Brayden Krebbs (York, Pa. / Susquehannock).
A six-run third put the home team firmly back in control, but the Jackets had a big inning of their own up their sleeves.
Junior
Ian Trott (Clairton, Pa. / Pittsburgh Central Catholic) started the rally by doubling in sophomore
Kaden Flambard (Bethel Park, Pa. / Bethel Park). Freshman
Jose Lopez, Jr. (Lewis Center, Ohio / Olentangy Orange) drove in freshman
Sam Watson (Morgantown, W.Va. / Morgantown) by beating out an infield single.
Waynesburg manufactured run number six when Boring lifted a sacrifice fly to centerfield that sent Watson sprinting home. Senior
Hunter Hamilton (Holbrook, Pa. / West Greene) belted his second homer of the season – a two-run bomb – that made the game very interesting by cutting the Jacket deficit down to 9-8.
The Orange and Black completed the comeback with a run in the sixth that came courtesy of a fielder's choice RBI by Boring that plated Trott.
Unfortunately, Grove City shook off the Waynesburg challenge and regained control with a four-run sixth to surge ahead 13-9.
The Jackets experienced one more offensive highlight in the seventh when Krebbs recorded his first collegiate homer – a solo shot that made the score 13-10.
Grove City got the run back in the eighth when a throwing error brought about the eventual final score.
Every Waynesburg starter in game two but one logged at least one hit each. Lopez reached base three times on a single and two walks, while Krebbs and Trott tallied two hits each. Boring drove in three runs, while Hamilton and Krebs tallied two RBI a piece. Hamilton, Watson and Trott each scored two times.
The Jackets return home on Saturday, April 11, to play their third doubleheader in four days. Waynesburg welcomes Saint Vincent for a 1 p.m. PAC twin-bill.
