Box Score
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. – Junior shortstop Nick Spisak singled up the middle with two out in the seventh inning, scoring Bob Stumpo and Kevin McGrath with the go-ahead runs as No. 17 West Chester upset Division I foe Pennsylvania, 2-1, in a non-league baseball game at Meiklejohn Stadium on a very bitter cold Friday afternoon.
West Chester (4-0) remained unbeaten on the year with the come-from-behind win. Penn (0-1) dropped its season opener before they head down south next week. The nine-inning affair was shortened from the scheduled doubleheader due to frost on Meiklejohn Stadium’s field in the morning.
The Golden Rams spread out seven hits among six batters with Spisak finishing 2-for-5 on the day with the big hit. Kyle Bechter, Drew Pare, Charlie Kelly, McGrath and Stumpo also banged out one hit each.
Penn’s Robbie Seymour (0-1) entered the game to pitch the top of the seventh and began by getting Blair Dameron to ground out. However, he ran into trouble when he walked McGrath, and Stumpo singled up the middle. Frank Nunan then moved the runners over to second and third on a grounder out in front of the plate.
Reid Terry was called upon to relieve Seymour, and Spisak greeted the new hurler with his two-run single. After Bechter walked, Cotellese grounded out to end the inning.
James Rundatz pitched a perfect ninth for his first save of the season. He struck out one batter. David Slusser threw the eighth inning, walking one and striking out one.
Sophomore Greg Ball started the game and lasted five innings. He gave up one unearned run in the second inning, walked one and struck out three. Cory Broderick (1-0) came on and threw two innings for West Chester, allowing three hits and picking up his first career collegiate win.
The Quakers scored one run on five hits, taking advantage of two West Chester errors in the second to jump out on top, 1-0. Ball pitched his way out of a bases loaded jam in the second to stop the bleeding at just one run for Penn.
West Chester is scheduled to host UMass-Lowell for a four-game homestand this weekend. Saturday’s doubleheader is a scheduled 12 p.m. start. Weather will play a role in how many of the four games the two schools get in this weekend.
