May 10, 2019 5 min read

The best aspect of double-elimination tournaments is having a second chance.

When you lose the way that the Bethany and Waynesburg baseball teams did Thursday in the opening round of the Presidents’ Athletic Conference tournament, another opportunity couldn’t come fast enough.

The Bison were blown out by top-seeded Washington & Jefferson, and Waynesburg watched a seven-run lead disintegrate as one pitcher after another walked off the mound in disgust in Grove City’s comeback win.

The transition from one Yellow Jackets pitcher to another moved as quick as a conveyor belt again Friday. Fourth-seeded Bethany rattled off five runs in the first inning and continued its offensive onslaught throughout the entire afternoon to defeat third-seeded Waynesburg, 12-9, in an elimination game at Ross Memorial Park.

“Our goal was to get here,” said first-year Bethany coach Justin Thomas. “We weren’t going to go down without a fight. I didn’t think we’d go out of the tournament without getting someone.”

That was Waynesburg (21-19), the team the Bison were thanking less than one week ago after the Yellow Jackets helped Bethany clinch a postseason spot for the first time since 2014. It was the first tournament win for Bethany since it knocked out the Yellow Jackets in an elimination game in 2005.

Using seven hits in the first inning to score five runs, the Bison never stopped hitting. They had 19 hits – one fewer than Waynesburg’s 20 – to score runs in five innings.

None of those innings was bigger than the first.

Trailing 2-0, Bethany (25-16) strung together five consecutive hits, including three straight run-scoring doubles, to quickly retake the lead in the bottom of the first inning. Ethan Young, who led off the game for the Bison with a double, scored on a Neil Woods’ single that ricocheted off starting pitcher Jonny Kutchman and into center field. Kevin Roach doubled on a shallow fly to left field that bounced past a diving outfielder to score Woods and tie the game at 2-2. Ryan Anselmino doubled to left field and Tyler Frazee hit a book-rule double to straightaway center field, each scoring a run. The scoring in the first ended when Kyle Goodwin singled up the middle to extend Bethany’s lead to 5-2.

“That start was huge,” Goodwin, a sophomore shortstop, said. “I think we all know that we are a great hitting team. We’ve hit the ball hard all year and knew we could do it.”

Goodwin failed to have a hit in any of the three games against Waynesburg during the regular season. He went 4-for-4 with a pair of RBI Friday afternoon, joining five other Bison with a multiple-hit game.

Bethany had at least two hits in each of the first five innings.

“I had a little bit of a mid-season slump,” Goodwin continued. “The series against Waynesburg definitely wasn’t my best. It was all about pitch selection for me today. Our coach was calling bunts and keeping the pressure on all throughout the game.”

A bunt ended up securing the victory for Bethany when its lead was trimmed to one run, 10-9, as the Yellow Jackets scored six unanswered runs – two in the sixth inning and four the top of the eighth.

With runners on second and third in the bottom of the eighth, Brandon Wagner laid down a suicide squeeze to score a breaking runner from third. The ball was fielded and thrown into right field by Waynesburg, scoring another run for the Bison to extend their lead to 12-9.

“It was executed in a tight situation,” Thomas said. “It’s high-risk and high-reward. If you work on it and don’t use it, then it’s useless. We have worked on it in practice. It was just about going through with it.”

Waynesburg used five pitchers less than 24 hours after using six the night before. In two games, the Yellow Jackets surrendered 27 runs on 30 hits. Kutchman lasted 1/3 of an inning. Ty Wickline, a starter who entered in relief, lasted 3 2/3 innings. Both gave up five runs.

“We gave up too many runs in the first inning,” said Waynesburg coach Mike Humiston. “Our starting guy didn’t have it and by the time we got somebody up and ready it was 5-2. We just didn’t pitch very well, or hit very well, at times. We can’t continue to not do those things and be successful.”

The Yellow Jackets left the bases loaded in both the sixth and seventh innings, which would have helped complete a comeback similar to the one they were on the wrong side of against Grove City Thursday.

Justin Buberl and Mitch Nordstrom each had four hits for Waynesburg.

“Our guys have to answer the bell when it’s their time,” Humiston said. “We left 12 on base. You aren’t going to win many games when you do that.”