Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score
WEST CHESTER, Pa. – West Chester University rapped out 15 hits, including home runs from Nick Spisak and Matt Cotellese, to take the opening game of a PSAC East baseball doubleheader from Shippensburg, 9-3. However, the visiting Raiders scored eight runs in the second inning of game two en route to a 13-5 win on a sunny, but blustery day at Serpico Stadium.
West Chester (36-10, 19-3 PSAC East) saw its winning streak snapped at 13 games with the loss in game two, but clinched the outright Eastern Division title with a win in the first game. It is the team’s first divisional crown since 2006 and the fourth time in the last seven years that the Golden Rams have claimed the regular-season title. Shippensburg (23-28, 12-10) clinched a playoff spot with the win in the nightcap.
“All year we’ve tried to focus on playing our best baseball at the end of the season,” West Chester head coach Greg Mamula said. “I think we are doing that. Game two was the first time all year that our pitching staff didn’t give us a chance to win the game. But, we have been hitting the ball very well and scoring a lot of runs lately.
“These guys are a veteran ballclub that have been here before. Their approach to every game is the same. Sometimes, young teams will get into the playoffs and act like it is a different game. I won’t have to worry about that with this team.”
Jason Bowman (4-3) tossed a complete-game, six-hitter in the opener. He allowed one run in the top of the first on three hits, but surrendered just three more hits the rest of way with a two-run homer by Cody Kulp in the sixth the only big blast. He struck out seven and walked two.
West Chester put up three runs in the bottom of the second inning when Joe Wendle doubled with one out, and Bob Stumpo traded places with him dropping a liner down the right field line. Josh Heyne followed with a single to center that scored Stumpo. After another out, Spisak reached on a fielding error by the Raiders’ third baseman, and Cotellese singled home Heyne from second.
Stumpo hit another RBI double in the third that made it a 4-1 game. Then, Spisak and Cotellese hit back-to-back home runs during a four-run fourth to put the game out of reach, 8-1. Spisak added a sacrifice fly in the fifth, before Kulp’s two-run blast in the sixth closed out the scoring.
Jason Kelly (2-8) took the loss in game one. He lasted 3.2 innings, surrendering seven runs, six of them earned, on 12 hits. Jimmy Miller finished up the fourth, and Kyle Chronister and Phil Harnick each threw one inning in relief.
In game two, Raiders starter Andrew Burke (6-3) went the distance, giving Shippensburg’s bullpen much needed rest. He allowed five runs on nine hits, did not walk a batter and struck out two.
“We mixed up our pitching a little today because (Jason) Bowman rarely loses,” Shippensburg head coach Matt Jones said. “To come in here and take one from West Chester, who is one of the best teams in the league, on their field, is a good way to make up for game one.”
The Raiders blew the game wide open on Rams’ starter Connor Kerins (6-2) in the second inning with eight runs on eight hits while sending 11 men to the plate. The only extra-base hit in the frame was a two-run triple by Ben Miller.
West Chester responded with a pair of runs in both the fifth and sixth. Charlie Kelly hit a two-run homer in the fifth, and Cotellese had a run-scoring single in the sixth that extended his hitting streak to 17 games. Dameron had an RBI single as well in the sixth.
Shippensburg put the game away with a four-spot in the top of the seventh that silenced any hopes of a comeback from the hosts.
Cotellese finished the day 3-for-7 with three RBI, including his sixth home run of the season. He now has 287 career hits, which stands one shy of the PSAC all-time mark established a year ago and held by Shippensburg’s Justin Garber. Cotellese has 80 hits on the season – 10 short of his school record 90 hits in 2008.
“We’ve been looking for pitches up in zone and driving them,” Cotellese said about the Rams’ recent offensive explosions that have regularly yielded around 15 hits per game and double-digit run production.
“Goal No. 1 is accomplished,” Cotellese continued. “But, there is a lot more baseball to be played and a lot more we want to do this year.”
West Chester travels to Shippensburg on Friday afternoon for another doubleheader to close out the PSAC portion of its schedule. The Golden Rams will make up the Bill Giles Classic championship game, which was rained out last week, at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia on Thursday, April 30 at 6 p.m.
