Box Score
WEST LAWN, Pa. – Matt Cotellese hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the fifth inning to break a one-all tie as seventh-ranked West Chester went on to a 5-3 victory over Concord in the first game of the 2009 NCAA Atlantic Regional baseball tournament at Owls Field at Ted Palka Park on an overcast and windy Thursday afternoon.
West Chester (43-10) plated a pair of runs in each of the fifth and sixth innings that opened up a 5-1 advantage for the top-seeded Golden Rams. Concord (27-14) scored twice in the top of the ninth, but left the tying runs on second and third to end the game.
West Chester will take on Shepherd, a 3-1 loser to Mercyhurst in the second game of the day Thursday, at 12 p.m. on Friday. The third game of the day pitting Kutztown against West Virginia State was rained out and will be made up on Friday morning at 9 a.m.
Senior right-hander David Slusser (7-1) picked up his 27th career victory, pitching eight innings and striking out a career-high 10 batters. He walked four, one intentionally, and scattered six hits while yielding one run.
“He pitched great,” West Chester head coach Greg Mamula said. “It looked to me like in the fourth inning that he hit a wall. But, he got his second wind and cruised the rest of the way. To be honest, he could have probably gone out there in the ninth.”
“I was getting back into a groove out there,” Slusser said. “I wanted to go back out. But, with a closer like Carmichael, I had no worries.
Eric Carmichael came on in the ninth and struggled, allowing two runs on two hits and walking two. However, second baseman Joe Wendle made a nice diving stop of a ground ball with the bases loaded and one out that got the Rams their second out of the inning and settled down Carmichael.
“If that ball gets through,” Mamula continued. “It’s probably a completely different ballgame. That would have put a lot more pressure on Carmichael.
Carmichael induced Concord’s Greyson Schram to ground out to short with runners on second and third to end the game and propel West Chester into the winner’s bracket on Friday.
“Having a defense out there like we do, it makes it so much easier on the pitchers. We know we can go out and pound the zone, and they’ll make all the plays. We have the best defense in the conference. No doubt about it.”
Cotellese finished the day 2-for-4 with his two-run homer that easily cleared the left-field wall, which stands 360 feet from home plate down the line. Cotto’s blast was his 10th of the season and 25th of his storied career and scored Nick Spisak, who had singled right before Cotellese stepped up with two outs.
Charlie Kelly led off the sixth with a triple to the wall in left-center and would later score on an RBI single from Bob Stumpo. The Rams’ catcher was erased on a double play, and West Chester then plated one more run before being retired.
Wendle singled through the right side and Josh Heyne followed with a double to left over the head of Tyler Webb that scored Wendle all the way from first. That gave the Rams their 5-1 lead after six.
Spisak finished the day 2-for-2 with two runs scored and two stolen bases. His two runs gives him 69 on the year, breaking the PSAC single-season record. Kelly and Stumpo each registered a pair of hits on the day.
Concord starter Donovan Huffer (6-2) suffered the loss. He pitched six full innings, surrendering five runs on nine hits while striking out one and walking one. Chastin Akers came on and pitched the seventh and eighth, giving up one hit, walking two and striking out one.
Brooks Cullen was 3-for-4 with a run batted in for Concord.
“Winning this first game was so important,” Slusser said. “It has really set us up well for the rest of the tournament.”
