ROBINSON TWP — Few thought the Freeport baseball team would be back here again.

But there the Yellowjackets were, in the WPIAL Class AA playoffs again despite losing nine seniors to graduation.

And just like last year, the playoff run was abruptly halted in the first round.

Waynesburg scored four runs in the first inning and added the death blow with five runs in the fifth to sink Freeport, 10-3, at a soggy Burkett Sports Complex Friday afternoon.

“I am happy with what we've done — all year,” said Freeport coach Chris Graczyk. “Talking about where we were last year, no one thought we'd do anything this year. They sucked it up and they played their butts off.”

Freeport jumped out to a 1-0 lead against Waynesburg ace Joe Monica and had runners on first and third with two outs. But Monica got a pop out to end the threat.

In the bottom of the first inning, Yellowjackets' starting pitcher Ryan Dunn struggled with his control. The junior right-hander walked four and gave up four hits as the Raiders scored four runs to take a 4-1 lead.

“That's the big thing with us. We like to hit the ball hard and we like to hit it well,” said Waynesburg coach Steve Coss. “If we get down, we fight back. We've done that all year.”

Dunn didn't make it out of the first inning. John Fetchko relieved him and got the final out of the first inning to keep the damage from getting worse.

Fetchko pitched well in relief and allowed the Yellowjackets to creep back into the game.

Freeport (11-5) scored two runs in the top of the fourth with two outs to cut the lead to 4-3.

Waynesburg (16-1) tacked on a run in the bottom of the inning and erupted for five runs in the fifth to bust open the game.

“We couldn't control the bleeding there, especially in the fifth,” Graczyk said. “I thought we fought back really nice, but they had timely hitting and we didn't.”

Tyler Singer had three hits and drove in a run for the Yellowjackets.

But, ultimately, it wasn't enough for a young team that made a big step.

“It'll take them a little while to digest this,” Graczyk said. “But they're young and resilient.”

Freeport 100 200 0 — 3 10 3Waynesburg 400 150 x — 10 10 2W: Joe Monica 5IP (5K, 1BB).

L: Ryan Dunn 0.2IP (1K, 4BB).

Freeport (11-5): Tyler Singer 3-1B RBI, Dunn 1B RBI, Cody Kaniecki 2B, Don Pastoria 1B RBI, Damon Smith 2-1B

Waynesburg (16-1): Steve McCaw 2-1B 2-RBI, Derek Lohr 1B RBI, Lucas Johnson 2B, Willie Ziefel 2-1B 2-RBI, Colton Lippencott 2-1B 2-RBI