The Waynesburg University baseball team split a nine-inning doubleheader against Westminster College April 8. The Yellow Jackets lost the first game 4-3, but avenged in the second game 4-8. The Titans fell to 8-7 overall and the Yellow Jackets improved to 6-16 overall, 2-6 in Presidents’ Athletic Conference games.

After a close battle back and forth, the Yellow Jackets wound up on just short of winning game one, after the Titans went up one run in the top of the 10th inning. The Yellow Jackets were able to get two runners on base but with two outs were unable to score their baserunners.

The Titans’ Jaret Johnson recorded the win in game one, while junior Nate Gearhart recorded the loss. Johnson pitched two innings, allowing three hits, one run – which was earned – and three strikeouts.

Junior Mitch Nordstrom went 2 for 5 and had an RBI. Senior Tyler Godwin and freshman Tyler Srbinovich both added two hits of their own. The Yellow Jackets’ 11 hits was better than the Titans’ seven, however, the Jackets could not get their baserunners home.

Head coach Mike Humiston said the team needs to find the ability to score runners in scoring position, along with improve its fielding percentage.

“Fielding percentages are not very good – something we used to hang our hats on in the past, that we could field the ball and make the throws and make the plays defensively,” Humiston said. “Coupled with leaving guys on base in scoring position…We’ve done a lot of that this year and those two things unfortunately resulted in losses for us.”

Humiston said the team needs to get hits early in the inning, instead of starting the inning with two outs and then working to get on base with limited abilities to score runners.

“I say it a number of times during the game, [when a guy is] in scoring position with less than two outs [we need] to make sure the guy up to bat hits it out of the infield,” Humiston said. “I don’t care what it is, we have to score that guy from third base. And we haven’t been able to do that.”

Humiston also said the fielding percentage, something the team used to do well in the past, has not been good this season.

“It would be different if they were hard plays….but we are making errors on balls that we make plays we make time and time again in practice and when we get to the game it goes awry,” Humiston said.

The team has lots of talent, according to Humiston, but has had difficulty when piecing everything together.

“I think the bottom line we’re just not playing very good baseball,” Humiston said. “We have the talent to win baseball games, we just haven’t put it together.”

While Humiston acknowledged the team still makes mistakes, the improvement he sees is promising. He noted some players who have continued to progress as the season has continued.

“Tyler Srbinovich at third base for example,” Humiston said. “He’s a freshman but he seems to be getting more comfortable at third base. [Junior] Tyler Reis – he was a first team all-conference guy last year. He’s had some bumps defensively but I think he’s a guy that can fix it. [Sophomore] Justin Buberl, who has been moved around the last few years from third base to outfield to first base, has done a great job. Aside from a couple of hiccups at first base, he has done I think a really good job for us.”

Sophomore Mason Miller started on the mound for the Yellow Jackets in game two, pitched 5 1/3 innings while allowing three hits, two walks and three runs – none of which were earned. Sophomore Colton Uzzell pitched 2/3 innings, allowing one run – unearned – with one walk. Freshman Tyler Srbinovich transitioned from third base to finish out the final two innings of the game, where he allowed two hits and recorded the save.

Buberl went 3 for 5 and recorded three runs, junior Tyler Reis went 2 for 3 while recording two runs and 2 RBIs and sophomore Tyler Reyes went 1 for 3 while recording one RBI and one run.

The pitching staff has performed well recently – only allowing one earned run in the doubleheader series against Westminster – and Humiston has been pleased with its performance all season.

“I have no qualms with our pitching staff,” Humiston said. “They have done an absolute great job since our first games down in Florida.”

Although the defense has struggled fielding the ball, Humiston acknowledged the problems could be worse with pitching struggles.

“Pitching wins baseball games and the more good pitchers you have, the better chance you have of winning games,” Humiston said. “I think we do have a good pitching staff, we just aren’t helping them out defensively or offensively.”

Humiston said with the implementation of nine-inning doubleheaders this season has made the team more cautious of when they are bringing bridge pitchers into the game. He said the transition from seven-innings to nine-inning games hasn’t been as easy as some conference coaches believed it would be.

“Those four innings that we tack on for a double header, from a seven to a nine, I think all of the teams are starting to feel the pressure of that,” Humiston said.

Humiston said the team needs to learn from previous mistakes and make sure not to make the same ones again.

“We just have to focus more,” Humiston said. “We still have some games ahead of us. We put ourselves behind the eight ball as a team and we have to find a way to fight our way back to where we should be and hopefully that happens Saturday.”

The Yellow Jackets will return to action Saturday when they host Saint Vincent for a doubleheader at 1 p.m.