West Chester Splits Another Doubleheader With Millersville

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

WEST CHESTER, Pa. – West Chester scored four runs in the top of the ninth inning to earn a split of the PSAC East baseball doubleheader at Serpico Stadium on a cold Wednesday afternoon.
 
West Chester (4-5, 2-2 PSAC East) split the four-game series against Millersville (13-5, 2-2) with all four games taking place at West Chester's home field. The Marauders served as the home team Wednesday and batted last.
 
Matt Petrizzi (Levittown, Pa./Conwell-Egan) tossed a complete game in the nightcap to even his record on the season at 1-1. He allowed two runs on nine hits while walking one and striking out five. He also went 1-for-4 with three RBI at the plate. His two-run single in the top of the ninth was a big part of the Golden Rams' four-run frame that sealed the win.
 
Millersville almost won the game in the bottom of the seventh, but Tyler McDonald's long fly down the left-field line was foul by about three feet. In the eighth, the Marauders again came close to a walk-off win when Dan Stoltzfus doubled down the left-field line with Dan Neff on first base. Neff tried to come all the way around to score, but Tyler Coleman (Quakerstown, Pa./Quakerstown) raced over to the corner and threw the ball into Dylan Tice (Perkasie, Pa./Pennridge), who relayed the throw home in plenty of time to cut down Neff.
 
Catcher Bill Ford (Parkside, Pa./Malvern Prep), who tagged out the potential game-winning run at home plate to end the bottom half of the eighth inning, led off the ninth with a single to left. Anthony Salomone (Dillsburg, Pa./North York) followed with a bunt single as Millersville failed to cover first base.
 
Mike Gannon (Lincroft, N.J./Middletown South) laid down another bunt that the Marauders' third baseman mishandled and everybody was safe. Drew Diehl (Unionville, Pa./Unionville) then fouled out deep down the right field line. But, Ford raced home with the first run of the inning. Millersville then intentionally walked Dylan Tice (Perkasie, Pa./Pennridge), leading up to Petrizzi's two-run single.
 
The second sacrifice fly of the inning from Robert Knox (Hatboro, Pa./Upper Moreland) plated the final run, giving West Chester a 6-2 advantage.
 
Trailing 2-0 in the top of the fifth, the Golden Rams knotted the game with a two-out, two-run rally after Millersville's starting pitcher, Jim McDade, was forced to exit with an injury to his throwing hand. McDade got the first two outs of the fifth and yielded a single to Salomone, before he left the game. Jesse Mowen entered and walked Gannon. Sean Stephenson then relieved Mowen. Diehl reached on a throwing error by the Marauders' second baseman. Stephenson then walked both Tice and Petrizzi with the free pass to Petrizzi forcing home Gannon.
 
Salomone and Ford each finished game two 2-for-4. Salomone scored twice and Ford once. Gannon scored twice as well in the nightcap.
 
In the opener, Millersville starter Brandon Miller (4-1) tossed a complete-game, four-hitter. He allowed two runs, walked three and struck out 11.
 
Tice collected three of the hits, going 3-for-3 with a pair of doubles and a solo home run to right. Knox had the only other hit.
 
West Chester right-hander Andrew Gernert (Lenhartsville, Pa./Kutztown) also threw a complete game. He allowed three runs, only two of them earned, on nine hits. He did not walk a batter and struck out six in a fine outing.
 
The Golden Rams rallied in the top of the seventh, scoring one run on Knox's single down the left-field line. However, West Chester left the tying run at third and go-ahead run at first when the inning ended.
 
West Chester will host Kutztown in a four-game series this weekend. All four games will be played at Serpico Stadium. Saturday, West Chester will serve as the home team and bat last in a doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m. while Kutztown is the home team, batting last, on Sunday in another doubleheader at 1 p.m.