WAYNESBURG, Pa. (March 27) – After coming back from a three-run deficit to earn a 6-5 win in the opener, the Saint Vincent baseball team was forced to settle for a split in its Presidents' Athletic Conference doubleheader at Waynesburg after the Yellow Jackets walked it off in the bottom of the ninth for a 5-4 win in game two.
With the split, Saint Vincent moves to 7-10 overall and 1-1 in the PAC, while Waynesburg sits with a 5-10 overall mark and 1-1 conference record.
GAME ONE: Saint Vincent 6, Waynesburg 5
After the Bearcats fell behind 3-0 in the second inning of game one,
Derek Hald's two-run single in the top of the seventh proved to be the game-winner, capping off the big comeback.
The Yellow Jackets scored two runs in the bottom of the first and added a third on a solo home run in the second inning, before the Bearcat bats finally awoke in the top of the fourth.
Jayke Saiani opened the inning with a solo home run to left-center to cut the deficit to 3-1, before
L.J. Evans doubled and scored on a
Devin Bonine single up the middle to make it a one-run game. Bonine was erased on an
Alex Hess fielder's choice, but Hess would score the game-tying run on an double to the right-center gap by
Jordan Sabol.
Waynesburg jumped back in front, 4-3, on another solo home run in the bottom of the fifth, but the Bearcats came right back to tie the game in the visiting half of the sixth. Bonine and Hess hit back-to-back singles to load the frame, before Sabol reached on an error to load the bases. Following a Waynesburg pitching change, a ground ball by
Kyle Belmont brought Bonine home with the tying run.
After SVC reliever
Tristan Bedillion pitched around a one-out single in the sixth to preserve the tie, the Bearcats put together what proved to be the game's deciding rally in the top of the seventh. The inning opened with a
Billy Perroz single and a Saiani double to put runners at the corners, and with one out, Hald cracked a single to right field to clear the bases and give SVC its first lead of the game, 6-5.
The Yellow Jackets scored a single tally in the bottom of the seventh and threatened to rally in the bottom of the ninth, using a double, single and a wild pitch to put runners at second and third with two outs. Bearcat closer
Casey Jones would escape the jam by inducing a game-ending popup to close out the two-inning save.
Saiani led the Bearcat offense by going 3-for-5 with a home run, two doubles and two runs scored. Sabol and Perroz also went 3-for-5, while Bonine finished 2-for-4.
Jeremy Kreuzwieser started and worked three innings on the mound, allowing three runs on three hits with two strikeouts. Bedillion earned the win, allowing two runs on four hits in the middle 3 2/3 innings, before
Andrew Root recorded the final out in the bottom of the seventh and Jones threw two scoreless, with four strikeouts, to earn the save.
GAME TWO: Waynesburg 5, Saint Vincent 4
The second game started in similar fashion as the first, with Waynesburg jumping out to a 3-0 lead after three innings of play,
Saint Vincent chipped away at the deficit, plating two runs in the fourth.
Connor Bannias singled and Perroz reached on an error to open the inning, and with two outs,
Zack VonStein's single to right plated Bannias with SVC's first run of the game. One pitch later, Bonine laced an opposite-field single to score Perroz and make it a one-run game.
The Bearcats tied it with one run in the top of the seventh. With one out,
Dimitri Gary tallied a pinch-hit single, and after Gary gave way to pinch-runner
Ben Hudson, Sabol singled to left to put runners at first and second.
Kyle Belmont was hit by a pitch to load the bases and Bannias followed with a single to right to plate Hudson and tie the game at 3-3.
Saint Vincent kept the momentum in the top of the eighth, as
L.J. Evans smacked a one-out triple and scored on Bonine's single to put SVC in front, 4-3.
The lead was short-lived, however, as Waynesburg's Bryce Bedillion led off the bottom of the eighth with a solo home run, his second shot of the game, to forge a 4-4 tie.
The Bearcats went down in order in the top of the ninth, and in the bottom half, Waynesburg used a walk, bunt, and one-out single by Gavin Pratt to walk off the 5-4 win.
Sean McAleer started on the bump for SVC in the nightcap, working 5.0 innings and allowing five runs on six hits with five strikeouts.
Jacob Hess allowed one run on two hits in two innings of relief, while
Michael Klingensmith was saddled with the loss, throwing the final inning-and-a-third and giving up one run on one hit and one walk.
The Bearcats out-hit Waynesburg by a 13-9 margin, but were hampered by seven runners left on base. Nine different SVC players recorded at least one hit, while four tallied multi-hit games, including Bonine (2-4, 2 RBI), VonStein (2-for-4, 1 RBI), Bannias (2-for-5, 1 RBI) and Sabol (2-for-5).
The Bearcats will be back in action on Wednesday, March 29, hosting defending PAC champion Washington & Jefferson for a 1 p.m. doubleheader at Bearcat Ballfield.
