Box Score WEST CHESTER, Pa. - Matt Petrizzi hit a double and a triple while driving in two of WCU's four runs, and junior right-hander Jeff O'Reilly pitched eight strong innings to lead host West Chester to a 4-2 non-league win over visiting University of Sciences Thursday.
West Chester (24-14) closed out the non-league portion of their 2014 campaign with the win over USciences (5-31). The Golden Rams travel to Millersville on Friday for a PSAC doubleheader that has been moved to an 11 a.m. start time. Saturday, the two schools will conclude their four-game weekend series at Serpico Stadium.
Rob Spekhardt had two hits and stole two bases. O'Reilly (2-0) pitched eight innings, allowing two runs, only one of them earned, on five hits to claim the win. Ryan Swearingen pitched the ninth inning to earn his first save of the season.
USciences managed just seven hits, four over the final two innings, as O'Reilly and Swearingen kept the Devils guessing all afternoon. West Chester plated a pair of runs in the third and again in the seventh to keep in control the whole time.
Spekhardt scored on an error by USciences second baseman in the third inning that would have gotten the Devils out of the frame unscathed. However, Petrizzi later added a run-scoring single to put the Rams in front, 2-0.
The Sciences came back with a single unearned tally in the sixth and one final tally in the eighth.
West Chester answered with two insurance runs in the seventh that put the game out of reach. Petrizzi tripled down the right field line that chased home Roman, who had walked one batter earlier. Tyler Coleman then hit a sacrifice fly that was deep enough for Petrizzi to score.
The Devils left five runners in scoring position from the sixth inning on, going 1-for-6 with RISP over that span.
USciences James Ianni (1-1) suffered the loss, despite allowing just unearned runs over 5.1 innings. He walked five. Michael Janas went the rest of the way, yielding two runs on one hit while walking three.
