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Box Score 2
WEST CHESTER, Pa. – The Golden Rams baseball squad picked up two wins on Monday afternoon against Bloomsburg University at Serpico Stadium. West Chester won game one 5-4, and WCU completed the sweep in game two with a 7-2 win versus the Huskies of Bloomsburg.
Bill Ford (Parkside, Pa./Malvern Prep) drew a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the second inning of game one to put the purple and gold in front 1-0.
In the bottom of the third, an RBI single off the bat of Shane Dressler (York Haven, Pa./Red Land) extended the WCU lead to 2-0. West Chester added another run on a bases-loaded ground ball double play and led 3-0 through three innings.
The Huskies (20-14, 7-9) scored their first run of the game in the top of the fourth. However, West Chester (20-9, 10-6) responded by scoring two more runs in the bottom half of the fourth. Nick Bateman (Aston, Pa./Malvern) led off the inning with a single, and the junior outfielder swiped second and third base. Bateman scored on an RBI double down the left field line from Ford. The junior backstop crossed the plate on an RBI single off the bat of Drew Diehl (Unionville, Pa./Unionville) that gave WCU a 5-1 lead through four innings of play.
Bloomsburg added lone runs in the fifth and sixth and narrowed the gap to 5-3.
With the Golden Rams clinging to a 5-3 lead, Bloomsburg's first two batters in the top of the seventh reached base. Josh McClain (Tunkhannock, Pa./Tunkhannock) was called on to relieve starting and winning pitcher Nick Stallings (Bel Air, Md./C. Milton Wright). The Huskies would pull within one, scoring on a wild pitch. However, McClain was able to strand the tying run at third base and secure the game one 5-4 victory.
In six innings on the bump, Stallings (3-2) allowed four runs, three of which were earned, on seven hits and two walked batters. The senior southpaw struck out four batters. McClain picked up his fourth save of the season.
A two-run home run in the top of the third of game two got Bloomsburg on the scoreboard first. However, the West Chester offense responded with seven unanswered runs, scoring five in the third and two in the fourth.
A one out Diehl single followed by a Nick Ward (Unionville, Pa./Unionville) single started the five-run fourth. A Justin Roman (Berwyn, Pa./Archbishop Carroll) RBI double to the left center gap scored Diehl. Ward scored on a wild pitch, and Roman was knocked in on a Dressler RBI single. A Robert Knox (Hatboro, Pa./Upper Moreland) double followed by a Bateman two-RBI single gave the Rams a 5-2 edge through three.
With two outs in the bottom of the fourth, four consecutive singles from Ward, Roman, Dressler, and Joe Sheeran (Springfield, Pa./Springfield) added two insurance runs, providing WCU with a 7-2 lead.
West Chester starting pitcher Andrew Gernert (Lenhartsville, Pa./Kutztown) kept the Huskies' bats quiet for the remainder of the game in a complete game effort. Gernert (5-0) scattered six hits and walked four batters, while allowing two runs. The junior pitcher struck out five.
Diehl went 3-for-4, while Ward, Roman and Dressler each collected two hits. The Golden Rams one through four in the lineup accounted for nine of WCU's 13 game two hits.
With the sweep, West Chester climbs into a tie with East Stroudsburg for second place in the PSAC East.
The Golden Rams return to the diamond at Shaute Field on the campus of Mansfield University on Friday, April 15 for a PSAC East doubleheader. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m.
