WAYNESBURG, Pa. (May 2) – The 2026 Waynesburg University baseball season wrapped up the season under cold, dreary conditions at its home field, as the Yellow Jackets hosted Thiel in a Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) doubleheader. The suboptimal weather didn't' seem to bother the Jackets, as they battled the Tomcats over 18 innings to earn a well-deserved sweep.
Saturday's performance gave Waynesburg (13-27, 4-18) its first sweep of a conference opponent since 2024 and two victories in the same year against Thiel (8-30, 4-18) since 2022.
The visitors opened the day's scoring in the top of the third inning with three runs. Waynesburg responded with a pair of scores in the bottom of the third. Freshman
Eli Boring (Latrobe, Pa. / Greater Latrobe) got things rolling with a leadoff double and moved to third on a groundout. Junior
Ian Trott (Clairton, Pa. / Pittsburgh Central Catholic) walked to put runners on the corners before a wild pitch allowed Boring to sprint home and make the score 3-1.
Another wild pitch moved Trott to third, before junior
Trent Giraffa (Hanover, Pa. / Delone Catholic) drove him in with an RBI single.
The home team tied the score in the bottom of the fourth. Senior
Noah Gabriel (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Shaler) led off by getting hit by a pitch and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt. After Thiel picked up the second out, Gabriel moved to third on a passed ball. An error during the at-bat of sophomore
Landen Lydick (Woodsfield, Ohio / Monroe Central) brought Gabriel in to tie the score at 3-3.
Momentum stayed with the Yellow Jackets as a two-out rally in the fifth allowed the home team to piece together its first lead of the day. Things started slowly as Giraffa was hit by a pitch and a wild pitch following a strikeout by freshman
Brody McMillan (Griffin, Ga. / North Henderson) put two runners on base. Gabriel singled to load the bases, before sophomore
Kaden Flambard (Bethel Park, Pa. / Bethel Park) slapped a two-run single to make the score 5-3. Freshman Brayden Krebbs (York, Pa. / Susquehannock) became the fifth-straight Waynesburg hitter to reach when he singled home Gabriel and extended his team's lead to 6-3.
The bottom of the sixth brought more offensive success for the Jackets. After Boring reached first via wild pitch following a strikeout to lead things off, senior
Hunter Hamilton (Holbrook, Pa. / West Greene) singled him over to second. Trott loaded the bases with a bunt single and Waynesburg's final two runs came across home plate on an error.
Thiel rallied with a run in the seventh and one more in the ninth to cut the deficit to three and had the bases loaded with two outs on the board in the final frame. However, junior
Nolan Dunn (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Carrick) induced a flyout to Hamilton to close out a 3.2-inning save.
Dunn relieved senior
Zach Scibelli (Ravenna, Ohio / Ravenna), who earned the win in his final collegiate start. Scibelli yielded three runs on four hits and four walks over 5.1 innings of work on the bump.
Boring led the Waynesburg offense with three of its nine hits, one of which was a double. He also scored twice, as did Gabriel.
Game two opened the same way as the opener with neither team scoring in the first two innings. Freshman
Sam Watson (Morgantown, W.Va. / Morgantown) opened the scoring with a bang by teeing off on his first collegiate homerun to give Waynesburg a 1-0 lead in the third.
The Tomcats got the run back in their half of the sixth, but the Jackets jumped right back ahead in the bottom of the frame when Giraffa singled in Watson to make the score 2-1.
Momentum took a big swing towards the visitors in the seventh when a two-out error not only tied the game, but opened the door for a grand slam by the Cats that put them ahead 6-2.
However, Waynesburg wasn't about to let its season end on a sour note, as the Orange and Black rallied in the bottom of the eighth to retake the advantage for good.
Boring led off with a double and moved to third on a flyout by Hamilton. The speedy first-year outfielder then scored on a wild pitch to cut the Jacket deficit to three (6-3). Back-to-back singles by Trott and Giraffa put runners on the corners, but a strikeout put the second out on the scoreboard. Waynesburg caught a break when Gabriel was plunked to load the bases.
The deficit shrunk to two when Flambard drew a bases-loaded walk and the Jackets tied the game at 6-6 thanks to a two-run single by Krebbs. Waynesburg scored the eventual game-winning run when Flambard sprinted home on a passed ball to put the host squad up 7-6.
Senior
Dalton Lucey (Waynesburg, Pa. / West Greene) got a chance to end his collegiate career in style as he came on for the save in the top of the ninth. Lucey didn't disappoint as he retired the three batters he faced in order to log his second save of the season. His first came all the way back in the season opener against La Roche.
Sophomore
Aydan Adamson (Carmichaels, Pa. / Carmichaels Area) picked up the win in relief after giving up an unearned run on one hit over 1.1 innings of work. Freshman
Austan Runtas (Slippery Rock, Pa. / Slippery Rock) entered the offseason on a high note by putting together his longest and arguably best appearance of 2026. He gave up five runs, only one of which was earned, on six hits and two walks, while piling up five strikeouts over 6.2 innings of work. Runtas retired the first seven batters he faced and didn't allow a runner to reach second base until the sixth.
Giraffa led the Jackets at the plate by going 3-for-4 with an RBI, while Trott logged two base knocks in four at-bats with a run scored.
The 2026 Yellow Jackets nearly doubled their overall win total from 2025 (7 to 13) and increased its PAC victory tally from three to four.
