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WEST CHESTER, Pa. – Jordan Wlodarczyk hit a walk-off single in the bottom of the 14th inning of game one, and Jack Provine hit a walk-off double in the bottom of the eighth inning of game two as host West Chester swept a doubleheader from host Kutztown at Serpico Stadium Saturday afternoon.
West Chester (22-23-1, 12-12 PSAC East) finishes the regular season in fourth place in the PSAC Eastern Division and earns the final spot in next week’s conference tournament in Johnstown, Pa. West Chester needed to win one more game than Shippensburg on the final day of the regular season to get into the tournament. When Shippensburg lost to Mansfield in game one of its doubleheader, the door was opened for the defending conference champs, and they responded with a pair of extra-inning wins.
It took 22 innings and nearly seven hours, but West Chester’s baseball team rode its senior class to a berth in the 2013 PSAC Baseball Championships. “Woody” and Provine put the finishing touches on one of the most exhilarating, yet exhausting days of baseball at Serpico. West Chester takes the season series from 29th-ranked Kutztown, 3 games to 1.
Junior right-handed reliever Kyle Weary (4-3) pitched 9.2 innings of relief in game one, keeping Kutztown off the board in extra innings to give his teammates the opportunity to win. In the nightcap, it was freshman Greg McCuch (2-1), who picked up the win in relief, after senior starter Conor Kerins left in the top of the seventh following his best outing of the spring.
With one out in the bottom of the 14th inning of game one, Justin Lamborn singled and moved up to second on a wild pitch. Chris Pula then reached on a fielding error by Kutztown’s shortstop to put runners at the corners. Woody then singled to left, plating Lamborn with the game-winning run.
A pair of errors in the top of the seventh led to Kutztown’s game-tying run that forced the two teams to play seven more innings before deciding a winner. However, West Chester was determined to get the wins it needed to sneak into the playoffs. Weary allowed two unearned runs on four hits during his 9.2 innings of relief. He walked six and struck out three.
In game one, Kutztown’s first two batters in the order went a combined 0-for-14 while West Chester’s first six batters accounted for all 16 hits. Woody finished 4-for-6 with two RBI while Nick Bonadies was 3-for-5.
In game two, Kutztown again forced extra innings with one run in the top of the seventh. The Bears’ leadoff hitter was hit by a pitch, and West Chester head coach Jad Prachniak then lifted Kerins in favor of McCuch. Kutztown’s Brendan Martinez then stole second and was sacrificed over to third. Matt Albaugh then singled him home to tie the game.
Before the eighth inning, with nightfall approaching, the umpires and two head coaches met at home plate and decided that was going to be the last frame played. However, West Chester made sure that things would not end in a tie.
Rob Spekhardt was hit by a pitch with one out and moved up to second on a wild pitch. Two batters later, Provine hit a two-out double that chased home Spekhardt with the winning run and the mad celebration began.
Provine finished game two 3-for-4 while Bonadies was 3-for-3 with a walk. Kerins pitched six strong innings on Senior Day, allowing three runs on five hits while walking three and striking out five.
West Chester, which has struggled at the plate at times this season, scored a combined 11 runs on 27 hits in Saturday’s doubleheader. The Golden Rams had 20 hits in Friday’s doubleheader with Kutztown and rapped out 16 hits against Chestnut Hill during the week. They have recorded more than 10 hits in a game in four of their last five contests.
West Chester, the fourth seed in the Eastern Division, will take on California (Pa.) in the first round of the PSAC Tournament on Wednesday at Point Stadium in Johnstown, Pa.
