The Waynesburg University baseball team traveled to Steubenville Ohio to take on the Franciscan Barons in Presidents’ Athletic Conference play on Tuesday night. 

The Yellow Jackets (5-15, 1-3 PAC) split with the Barons (6-7, 1-3 PAC) for the second conference series of the year. Senior Gavin Pratt started on the mound for the Jackets. 

Franciscan struck first in game one with a run in the second inning, but Waynesburg took the lead after a couple innings. Senior second baseman Dalton Mount started Waynesburg with an RBI single in the third, then in the fourth another RBI single by Mount and a sacrifice fly by first baseman Vincent Turner to make the score 3-1 after four innings. 

Pratt went five full innings allowing only one run on three hits. Junior pitcher Dalton Lucey came in after the fifth allowing four hits and no runs after two innings. 

Mount continued dominating at the plate with another RBI single in the sixth, along with a RBI single from senior catcher Aidan Williams making the score 5-1 after six innings. 

However, the Jackets would struggle in the eighth, allowing the Barons to come back and take the lead after a five-run inning making the score 6-5 heading to the ninth.  

The Jackets sent it to extra innings after a single from senior right fielder Alec Engelmore in the top of the ninth but the Barons would get the last laugh with a walk off homerun in the bottom of the eleventh.  

“We realized that we can’t let the loss from one run affect our mindset in game two,” sophomore third baseman Trent Giraffa said. “You have to realize as a team that losses like that happen, you just have to move on and focus on winning game two.” 

Mount went four-for-six with three RBIs and a double, and Giraffa went two-for-six with a double.  

Mount said the team didn’t let the emotions from game one affect the team in game two. 

“Game one hurt but we just flushed it and put it behind us,” Mount said.  “We controlled what we could control and that was to go out and win game two.”  

Game two junior pitcher Hudson Pincavitch started on the mound for the second time this season.  

Waynesburg scored first in the fourth with a Giraffa double scoring one, and junior left fielder Alek Wagor notched a single scoring another making the score 2-0 in the fourth.  

Pincavitch would be pulled after four and a third innings of play allowing two earned runs on eight hits. “It’s huge for my confidence,” Pincavitch said. “I’ve strung along two decent starts recently so that’s big for me personally. After struggling with some confidence early in the season, it’s nice to be a contributor to help the team win.” 

Sophomore Ryan Opfer would come in to replace Pincavitch and pitched the rest of the game. 

The Barons responded with a run of their own in the fourth, but Mount would use a fielder’s choice to score sophomore Connor Hamrick. Franciscan put up another in fifth making the score 3-2 after five.  

The sixth is when the Jackets clicked scoring six runs with a bases loaded double from Turner followed by another double from Hamrick scoring Turner, a single from Freshman shortstop Kaden Flambard scoring Hamrick and a fielder’s choice RBI from catcher Seth Burgdolt would make the score 9-2. 

The Barons tallied a couple more runs but could not catch up to the Jackets and Opfer would gather his first win for Waynesburg with a final score of 9-6. He gave up seven hits and one earned run after four and two thirds’ innings pitched. 

“It helps a lot,” Opfer said. “Just to get the innings and show what I can do builds a lot of confidence.” 

The Jackets play next tomorrow in a non-conference single game against the LaRoche Redhawks in Pittsburgh. Game time is set for 3 p.m.