WAYNESBURG, Pa. (March 20) – The Waynesburg University baseball team dropped two seven-inning contests to the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford in the Yellow Jackets' final tune-up before the start of Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) this weekend.

The Panthers (9-5) eked out a 2-1 victory in the opening game with a strong pitching performance backing up two early runs. UPB belted a grand slam in the top of the first inning and never looked back in a 15-4 win in game two.

Waynesburg heads into league play with a 4-12 record. 

Game 1 – Pitt-Bradford 2, Waynesburg 1

The Panthers scored a run in each of the first two innings and starting pitcher Shawn Mannering did the rest for Pitt-Bradford in game one.

UPB scored with an RBI double in the first and on a fielder's choice in the second. Waynesburg pitchers stranded 13 Panthers on base to keep the Jackets close throughout the afternoon.

Marcos Mendez (Ponce, Puerto Rico / Westminster (Md.)) knocked in Trent Giraffa (Hanover, Pa. / Delone Catholic) with a base hit up the middle in the bottom of the fourth. Trailing 2-1 in the bottom of the fifth, Waynesburg put runners on first and second with one out but a strikeout and ground out ended the threat.

The Jackets put a runner on third base in each of the first two innings but came up empty.
      
Hudson Pincavitch (Waynesburg, Pa. / Waynesburg Central) was tagged with the loss after allowing two earned runs on five hits in four innings. He struck out three and left eight UPB stranded on base, including ending the first and second innings with the bases loaded.

Ryan Opfer (Houston, Pa. / Chartiers-Houston) tossed two scoreless innings out of the bullpen and Matthew Corte-Gaskill (Wake Forest, N.C. / Knightdale) pitched a clean seventh.

Mendez had two of Waynesburg's five hits and an RBI Giraffa doubled and scored in the fourth.

Game 2 – Pitt-Bradford 15, Waynesburg 4

A grand slam highlighted a six-run first inning for the Panthers. UPB added four runs in the second and three in the third to lead 13-4 after three innings. Neither team scored again until the Panthers launched a two-run home run in the seventh.

Waynesburg's four runs were scored on two ground outs, a runner scoring on a wild pitch and an RBI single by Dalton Mount (Sykesville, Md. / Westminster).

The Panthers recorded 14 hits, six of which went for extra bases. Waynesburg scattered seven in the ballgame. Aidan Williams (Shaler, Pa. / Shaler) doubled and scored in the first.

Mo Kiger (Waynesburg, Pa. / West Greene) and Nicholas Manko (Upper St. Clair, Pa. / Upper St. Clair) combined for 3.1 innings of scoreless relief. 

The Jackets open Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) at home against Allegheny on Saturday. First pitch is set for 12 p.m.