WEST CHESTER, Pa.- The West Chester University baseball team (12-6) welcomed Chestnut Hill (5-9) to the friendly confines of Serpico field on Thursday afternoon and the Golden Rams prevailed by a final score of 13-3.
Chestnut Hill jumped out to an early 1-0 lead when Ameir Uzzell took the first pitch he saw to deep left field to give the Griffins the lead.
West Chester did not trail for long as the Golden Rams quickly answered back as
Nick Ward (Kennett Square, Pa./Unionville) doubled to centerfield to score
Justin Horn (Willow Grove, Pa./Upper Dublin), which tied the game at 1.
Jared Melone (North Wales, Pa./North Penn) followed this up with a double of his own to score Ward, thus, giving West Chester a 2-1 lead that the Golden Rams would never relinquish. West Chester tacked on another two runs by virtue of an RBI groundout from
Shane Dressler (York Haven, Pa./Redland) to score Melone before
Bill Ford (Parkside, Pa./Malvern Prep) drove home
Zach Sheranko (Tannersville, Pa./North Hampton) to give West Chester the 4-1 lead.
In the bottom of the second inning,
Drew Jarmuz (Kennett Square, Pa./Unionville) connected on a three-run home run driving in Dressler and Ward to make the score 7-1.
Joey Coyle (Wilmington, Del./Salesianum) got in on the act in the third, with a two-run home run scoring Ford to give West Chester a commanding 9-1 lead after three innings of play.
In the fifth inning, Chestnut Hill loaded the bases with none out and they managed to push two runs across before West Chester worked out of trouble to keep the 9-3 lead heading to the bottom of the fifth.
West Chester answered right back in the bottom of the sixth, as Dressler recorded another RBI groundout this time scoring Horn, which Jarmuz followed up with an RBI single that scored Ward.
In the eighth inning, Ward made solid contact once again for his team leading sixth home run of the season to push the lead to 12-3.
Keith Flaherty (Philadelphia, Pa./St. Joseph's Prep) kept things going a few batters later when he plated Melone to make the score 13-3 in favor of West Chester.
Ward ended the day 4-for-5 with four runs scored and two RBIs including his sixth home run of the season to help propel West Chester to victory.
Joe Peluso (Lewisberry, Pa./Trinity) (1-1) got the start and picked up the victory as he went four innings surrendering just three hits and three runs while also striking out three. After Peluso exited in the top of the fifth,
Michael Deitz (Avon Grove, Pa./Avon Grove) entered for the next three innings surrendering just one run along the way before giving way to
Nick Piciarello (Philadelphia, Pa./Germantown) who pitched a fairly clean eighth inning allowing just one batter to reach via a walk.
Dan McCartin (Warrington, Pa./Central Bucks South) and Tim Edwards (Hershey, Pa./Hershey High) combined to finish the game, which allowed West Chester to pick up the 13-3 victory and improve to 12-6 on the year.
Anthony Vlahovic (0-2) got the ball for Chestnut Hill and he lasted just two innings surrendering six hits, seven runs (six earned) and three walks while striking out three.
West Chester is back in action on Saturday afternoon when East Stroudsburg comes to the friendly confines of Serpico field for a pivotal PSAC East doubleheader beginning at 1 p.m.
