Apr 15, 2017 By Kyle Dawson assistant Sports Editor 6 min read

Entering Friday’s Presidents’ Athletic Conference doubleheader, Waynesburg’s baseball team knew it needed to bounce back.

It knew it needed to play better than it did the day before, Thursday, April 13, in a nine-inning contest against Geneva.

In a 7-3 loss that day, Waynesburg made more errors than it had hits, and the easiest way head coach Mike Humiston said he could describe it was “pathetic.”

That’s why, by the end of Friday’s doubleheader, Humiston was happy with the turnaround and response by his team, which won both games to take the three-game series two-to-one.

“Our guys had a long team talk after the loss yesterday,” said Humiston. “I was hoping our guys would have their eyes opened coming into today. When a team embarrasses you like [Geneva] did, you have some guys that did a little bit of soul searching and it showed today with two wins.”

Senior Derek Whalen was the pitcher for Waynesburg tasked with setting the tone for game one of the doubleheader, and contrary to what senior Luke Carter was given as the starter for Waynesburg Friday, Whalen had a 2-0 lead before he threw a pitch in the game.

An errant pickoff attempt scored a Waynesburg run before the Jackets picked up a second, first-inning tally off the bat of junior outfielder Tyler Godwin, who singled in sophomore second baseman Tyler Reis.

Whalen, pitching with the lead from the get go, knew if he executed his gameplan against the Golden Tornadoes, he’d be “fine,” but knew he was tasked with the need for the team to “pick it up” after Friday’s loss.

“After we talked in the outfield yesterday with everybody, we knew that we needed to pick it up,” said Whalen. “The season isn’t over but if we didn’t start [today], time is running out.”

Whalen surrendered two, first-inning runs to Geneva, but after the inning, the Jackets immediately responded as Reis doubled in a pair to give the Jackets a two-run advantage.

From there, it was smooth-sailing for Whalen, who was the winning pitcher in a 9-2 decision, pitching a complete game, allowing seven hits, the two earned runs and striking out one.

“Location [was big for me],” said Whalen. “After the third inning, I threw about 85 percent fastballs and cutters to these guys just trying to get them to miss the barrel. Defensively, it was an outstanding effort.”

Geneva pitching struggled in game one, as senior Caleb Metzler got the nod and allowed five runs over the course of his five innings before giving way to the bullpen, which allowed four more to the Jacket attack.

Seven players for Waynesburg drove in runs in the game one victory.

“Our guys’ approaches were better,” said Humiston. “Derek came out after the first inning and said ‘everything is working,’ and that was good to hear. It was a good win for him, and we’ve talked all season about how much easier it is to pitch when your offense is scoring for you. We found a way to do that today.”

Freshman Mason Miller got the nod in game two, trying to win the series for the Jackets and complete a doubleheader sweep.

For the second consecutive outing, the Jackets opened the scoring with two runs, these two coming in the third inning.

Senior shortstop Nate Mori scored on a throw to second base on a steal attempt by senior centerfielder Josh Hausler, while Hausler scored on a base hit by senior first baseman Jon Kletzli.

Geneva picked up two runs in the bottom of the frame, when junior outfielder Tyler Pagaduan doubled in a run and scored on a pitch that got away from Waynesburg freshman catcher John Przybylinski.

That’s all Geneva would get though, as Miller struggled a bit with command, but worked through each jam he got into, pitching five innings of two-run ball, while giving up six hits and walking two. He struck out seven on the way to his first collegiate win, which he picked up after senior pitcher Jacob Meyer pitched two innings to close the door. Meyer gave up a run on three hits.

Miller said it was good to get the monkey off his back in the win column, but said he’s been confident in how he’s thrown to start his freshman campaign.

“I wanted to help the team get back in and get a win,” said Miller. “Derek pitched a good first game and I wanted to follow that up. I saw them chase a lot of pitches in the first game and take first pitches [if they were offspeed]. My control was a little off but I threw a cutter today that is a relatively new pitch [for me], and I had a slip up with that once but I just tried to battle.”

Humiston said while Miller didn’t have his best command, he showed some fight.

“Going out there and being a bit shaky at first, he seemed to settle down,” said Humiston. “He made some great plays defensively for us on line drives back up the box. Those are big plays.”

The Jacket offense added two runs in the fourth inning and fifth inning, winning game two 7-3.

For the Jackets and Humiston, it was nice to bounce back.

“Our objective is to win the series,” said Humiston. “We have to put our best foot forward with Bethany now [on Tuesday]. We have to play our best games and try and come out ahead.”

Miller echoed his coach’s sentiments.

“It was good to jump on them and score some runs,” said Miller. “Then from there we just did what we do and throw strikes and play well defensively. They were big wins for us.”

With Waynesburg’s next games scheduled for Tuesday on the road at Bethany College, the Jackets are presented with dealing with the Easter break, which will keep the team from practice until Monday, allowing the players to spend the holiday with their families.

“We’ll come back Monday and work on some things,” said Humiston. “We didn’t play flawless baseball today but it was good enough… There’s some things offensively and defensively we need to work on. We need to put ourselves in position to win some games down the stretch.”

Waynesburg takes on Bethany in a PAC doubleheader Tuesday, April 18, with first pitch scheduled for 2 p.m.