No. 14 West Chester Falls To No. 1 Mercyhurst, 14-12

Box Score

JOHNSTOWN, Pa. – West Chester batters hit six home runs and erased a six-run deficit at one point, but could not hold on as No. 1 Mercyhurst took a 14-12 decision from the 14th-ranked Golden Rams in the PSAC semifinal at Point Stadium late Saturday night.
 
West Chester (36-11) had forced a deciding game in its half of the bracket by virtue of an 18-4 win over the Lakers (37-6) earlier in the evening. Combined, the top two teams in the regional polls scored 48 runs in 18 innings – and little over eight hours – of baseball.
 
The Golden Rams trailed 9-3 in the seventh inning when they put up a six-run frame to even the game for the last time at 9-apiece. Mercyhurst responded with three runs in the eighth off West Chester closer Josh McClain (Tunkhannock, Pa./Tunkhannock) and two more in the ninth. The Lakers needed all of those runs too as Anthony Salomone (Dillsburg, Pa./Northern York) hit a solo home run in the eighth, and Nick Bateman (Aston, Pa./Malvern) slammed a two-run shot in the ninth to make things interesting right until the end.
 
The six home runs by West Chester marked the most in a single game since April 8, 2009 against Lincoln University and highlighted a doubleheader with the top-ranked team in the country that saw West Chester put up 30 runs in 18 innings.
 
West Chester was eliminated from the PSAC Tournament with a record of 3-2 in its five games. The Golden Rams made a valiant run to the semifinals and will finish third in the tournament, all after dropping its first game back on Wednesday. Mercyhurst advances to the conference championship game to face Seton Hill on Sunday.
 
The Golden Rams 3-2 record for the week, including a win over a higher-ranked opponent should be enough to keep West Chester at No. 2 in the NCAA Atlantic Region rankings. The field of 64 teams selected for the upcoming 2017 NCAA Division II Baseball Tournament will be revealed Sunday night at 10 p.m. on NCAA.com.