Box Score
LANCASTER, Pa. – Joe Wendle went 3-for-5 with six runs batted in and three RBI, and Nick Spisak was 3-for-4 with three runs scored as West Chester University won its first PSAC baseball tournament in 24 years with a 16-2 victory over Mercyhurst in the championship game at Clipper Magazine Stadium Thursday evening.
Seventh-ranked West Chester (42-10) won its sixth conference crown overall with the win over No. 28 Mercyhurst (35-15), who is in their first season in the league.
Wendle hit his first home run of the season during a four-run sixth that broke open a 4-1 ballgame. He greated reliever Matthew Jimenez with a blast over the high right-field fence with two men on base.
The Golden Rams added seven more runs in the bottom of the eighth while sending 12 batters to the plate to put the game away.
Tournament MVP Matt Cotellese put the finishing touches on his week-long rampage with a two-run single to left in the eighth, giving him nine RBI for the three games. He finished 6-for-13 with two doubles and a home run in the tournament.
Freshman left-hander Conor Kerins (7-2) got the start in the championship tilt and went five innings, allowing one run on three hits, walking two and striking out four. He threw 36 pitches in the first inning, giving up one run and leaving the bases loaded.
However, he settled down after that eventually retiring 11 straight Lakers’ batters and yielding just two more hits. Carmen Daddario came on and pitched two innings in relief. He gave up one run on three hits to partially redeem himself from a sub-par performance earlier in the day in the semifinals. Bret Moyer and Jordan Lehman pitched an inning each after Daddario exited.
Eight of West Chester’s nine starters picked up a hit in the game as the Rams knocked out 15 hits overall in the contest.
Mercyhurst starter Adam Gray (4-2) allowed seven runs, six of them earned, on eight hits in five innings of work. Four relievers followed him to the mound, each with minimal success at best.
West Chester, the top seed in the North Atlantic Region, will wait until Sunday night to find out where and who the Rams will play in the NCAA Tournament. A regional championship next weekend would catapult the Golden Rams into the 2009 NCAA Division II College World Series in Cary, N.C. between May 22-30.
