Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2
LAKELAND, Fla. – It took 15 innings to decide a winner in game two. However, Chris Pula’s single to right-center with the bases loaded and one out was the deciding factor as West Chester swept a doubleheader from Minnesota-Duluth at Henley Field Monday afternoon.
West Chester (7-7-1) evened its record on the year with a 6-1 decision in the first game and a 7-6 margin in the second after four hours and 15 innings of baseball. UMD (0-12) dropped its 12th straight to open the 2013 campaign.
Rob Spekhardt started the rally in the 15th with a leadoff walk. Mike Raimo followed with a single, and both runners moved up on a wild pitch. Jack Provine then drew a walk to load the bases with nobody out. Justin Lamborn hit a grounder to short. However, the Bulldogs had their infield drawn in, and the shortstop threw home to cut down Spekhardt and keep their hopes alive. That is when Pula delivered his single to the opposite field that plated Raimo with the winning run.
“I was just thinking out staying back,” Pula said afterwards. “All day, they had me out in front, and I wasn’t faring too well. So, I just wanted to stay back and look for something to drive.”
Pula’s game-winner capped a stellar performance from West Chester’s bullpen, which tossed 10 shutout innings, including six from the team’s closer, Kyle Weary.
“The pitching was outstanding, especially the relief,” WCU head coach Jad Prachniak commented later. “(Throwing Weary for six innings) wasn’t the game plan going in. But, we were a little thin in the bullpen. But, he was doing a good job, throwing strikes with his fastball. So, we stuck with him.”
West Chester rallied for three runs in the bottom of the fifth that tied the game at 6-all. Again, that rally started with the ninth man in the order. Dylan Zigman, who started the game at shortstop, singled, and Raimo followed with a base hit. Provine doubled, scoring Zigman and sending Raimo to third. He scored on a sacrifice fly by Justin Lamborn. Nick Bonadies later singled home Provine to knot the game at 6-6.
Provine was the offensive threat Monday in West Chester’s order. He went 3-for-7 in the nightcap with a run scored and an RBI. He went 2-for-4 with a RBI and a stolen base in the opener to finish the day 5-for-11 with two RBI.
“We were pretty tired,” Provine said. “We needed that win to get back to .500, and now it’s on to Tampa tomorrow. I can’t wait. This sweep was huge for us.”
Lefty John Barr started the game and lasted three innings, giving up five runs, only two of which were earned, on five hits. He walked two and struck out two.
“I thought John pitched well at the start,” Prachniak added. “We didn’t help him out in a few spots, but he hung in there.”
West Chester committed a pair of errors in the first inning that led to three unearned runs and put the Golden Rams in the hole, 3-0, early on. WCU got one of those runs back in the bottom of the first. However, UMD tacked on single tallies in the second and third. West Chester answered UMD’s run in the second with two of its own in the bottom half.
Tyler Coleman doubled home Jordan Wlodarczyk, and Zigman followed with a sacrifice fly for West Chester’s two runs. Coleman finished the day 3-for-7 with a RBI – the first multiple-hit game of his career.
West Chester went through four pitchers with Ron Scull (1-0) throwing the final three to come up with his first college win. UMD’s Kyle Comer (0-1) threw the 15th inning, after playing third base for the first 14 frames, and suffered the loss.
The Golden Rams pushed across single tallies in the second, fourth, fifth and sixth to jump out to a 4-0 lead in the opener, giving freshman right-hander Eric Close (1-0) some support. Close threw six innings, scattering five hits, walking one and striking out five in his first college start.
Nick Bonadies singled and later scored when Kyle Frazier hit a ball to short that UMD’s shortstop let get through his legs. Frazier doubled to left-center in the fourth, chasing home Ben Spezialetti, who had walked, all the way from first. Frazier was thrown out at third, trying to stretch that double into a triple, to end the inning.
In the fifth, Rob Spekhardt led off with a single up the middle and then stole second. He scored when Jack Provine hit a single down the left-field line just inside the bag. Spezialetti walked in the sixth, stole second and scored on a single through the left side by Frazier.
West Chester added a pair of runs in the top of the seventh for insurance. Justin Lamborn hit a two-run double to left-center, scoring Mike Raimo and Provine.
Greg McCuch came on in the bottom of the seventh in relief of Close. He walked the first batter he faced, but got the next three in order to end the game.
Jimmy Heck (0-1) suffered the loss for UMD. He threw the first five innings, giving up three runs on six hits.
West Chester continues its southern swing on Spring Break journeying 30 miles down I-4 to take on the University of Tampa Tuesday evening at 5 p.m. The Spartans are ranked third in the latest collegebaseballlineup.com poll, fifth by collegiatebaseball.com and ninth by the National College Baseball Writers' Association.
