KISSIMMEE, Fla. - The No. 6 West Chester University baseball team continued play in the 2018 D9 Sunshine State Games on Wednesday, as the team squared off against fellow Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) representative Slippery Rock in a non-league game at the Osceola Heritage Park.
The Golden Rams faced a sizable 11-3 deficit against the Rock through the first four innings of action, but West Chester was able to quickly recover and tack on eight runs in the fifth to knot the game up at 11-11 through 5.5 innings. The final three innings of action saw the Golden Rams run away the contest, outscoring their opponents 13-4 over the final three frames to grab the convincing 24-15 victory on Wednesday. The victory – WCU's eighth in a row – moves West Chester to 10-2 on the season and keeps the Golden Rams unblemished (5-0) in Florida this season heading into tomorrow's final game against Northwood. West Chester's 24 runs on Wednesday were the most for the team since putting up 30 against Mansfield in 2010, while the combined 39 runs between the Golden Rams and Slippery Rock today marked the highest total for a West Chester team and an opponent since the Golden Rams defeated the Philadelphia Textile School (now Thomas Jefferson University) 42-1 during the 1992 season.
Slippery Rock jumped out to a 5-0 advantage to start Wednesday's game, until junior
Jared Melone (North Wales, Pa. / North Penn) connected on a three-run home run (third of the season) in the top of the third to score both senior
Nick Ward (Kennett Square, Pa. / Unionville) and freshman Dustin Horn
(Willow Grove, Pa. / Upper Dublin) – cutting the WCU deficit to just two runs (5-3) through 2.5 innings. The Rock used the next inning and a half to build on its lead, scoring the next six runs of the contest to stretch their cushion to 11-3 entering the fifth.
The Golden Rams' fortune took a turn for the better in the fifth, as the team slowly began to get itself back into the contest with its alloy. Following a double by senior
Shane Dressler (York Haven, Pa. / Red Land), Ward came in to score (11-4) following a throwing error by SRU's left fielder. Junior
Drew Jarmuz (Kennett Square, Pa. / Unionville) then connected on a RBI double to score Dressler (11-5), before Jarmuz crossed home plate thanks to another Slippery Rock error to bring the score to 11-6 with two outs on the board. Junior
Franklin Ramirez (Reading, Pa. / Berks Catholic) singled up the middle to score freshman
Christian Bateman (Aston, Pa / Sun Valley) (11-7), before Horn sent a double out to left center to score Ramirez and bring the game to 11-8. Still with two outs, Ward notched a 2-RBI single to bring the Golden Rams within one (11-10), prior to Dressler reaching base and scoring Ward to tie the game at 11-11 following Slippery Rock's third error of the frame.
West Chester took the lead in the sixth and never looked back, as Ford sent a double out of center on a 3-1 count to put the Golden Rams on top 12-11. The next three innings saw WCU continue to pile on the runs, outscoring the Rock 12-4 over the final three frames en route to earning the convincing 24-15 on Wednesday afternoon.
Melone went 3-for-5 against the Rock and led all players with six RBI on the day. Dressler finished Wednesday with three hits and three RBI, including a game-high three doubles to put the junior atop the WCU rankings with six overall this season. Ward tallied four RBI and three hits in the victory, while junior
Jon Hansen (Cherry Hill, N.J. / George Mason) and Ramirez both contributed two RBI and one hit in the winning effort.
Freshman
Nick Picariello (Philadelphia, Pa. / Germantown) (1-0) got his first victory as a Golden Ram on Wednesday after allowing just one run in 1.1 inning pitched. Overall, the Golden Rams used five pitchers on the day, in a game that latest just shy of four hours.
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