WEST CHESTER, Pa. – Coming off a split in Millersville yesterday, the No. 19 West Chester University baseball team returned home to Serpico Field on Saturday afternoon to close out its four-game Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) series against the Marauders with a doubleheader at home.
Fueled by a big offensive output in both contests, the Golden Rams put up nine runs in each game to earn the sweep of the visiting Marauders 9-5 and 9-7 on Saturday afternoon. The victories push West Chester 20-8 overall and the Golden Rams now sit solely in second place in the PSAC East at 9-5, leapfrogging WCU over Millersville (21-13, 9-6) for the runner-up position behind Bloomsburg in the PSAC Eastern Division.
Game One: West Chester - 9 | Millersville - 5
- The visitors got on the board first on Saturday afternoon, as a RBI double by Kaylor Kulina in the first put the Marauders on top 1-0 early.
- West Chester made Millersville pay for some costly errors in the second frame, starting with Jon Hansen (CHERRY HILL, N.J./GEORGE MASON) scoring off a throwing error by the MU pitcher to knot the game at 1-1.
- With the score knotted at 1-1 with two outs in the second, Nick Ward (KENNETT SQUARE, PA. UNIONVILLE) sent his ninth home run of the season over the right field wall to notch three RBI and put the Golden Rams in front 5-1.
- West Chester scored two on more Millersville errors in the third, before Christian Bateman (ASTON, PA/SUN VALLEY) was awarded home plate following a balk to stretch the home teams advantage to 8-1 through three.
- A two-run homer by Millersville's Dominic Hardaway put the Marauders on the board in the fourth and the visitors then added two more in the fifth to hack the WCU lead to 8-4 entering the sixth stanza.
- Up four, Jared Melone (NORTH WALES, PA. NORTH PENN) singled in Ward in the sixth to extend the lead to 9-4 with one inning remaining.
- Millersville managed to tack on one run in the top of the seventh, but that would be all the Marauders would muster as closer Tim Edwards (HERSHEY, PA./HERSHEY) came in and forced a fly out to end the inning - giving the junior his second save of the season and sealing the 9-5 victory for West Chester to start the day.
Melone went 3-for-3 with a RBI in the win, while Ward added two hits, one run, three RBI, and a long ball for the Golden Rams.
On the mound,
Mike Cipolla (NEWARK, DE/CHARTER SCHOOL OF WILMINGTON) got the victory after giving up five runs (four earned) on 11 hits with two strikeouts in 6.2 innings pitched.
Game Two: West Chester – 9 | Millersville - 7
- It was the Marauders' bats that came alive early in game two, as the visitors managed to build a 4-0 lead through the first two innings of action.
- The Golden Rams got on the board twice in the second thanks to a RBI double by Joey Coyle (WILMINGTON, DEL./SALESIANUM) and a RBI single by Melone to bring the score to 4-2 heading into the third.
- Millersville added two more in the third to push its advantage to 6-2 but the Golden Rams would quickly erase that cushion in the following inning.
- Following a RBI single by Shane Dressler (YORK HAVEN, PA./RED LAND), Drew Jarmuz (KENNETT SQUARE, PA./UNIONVILLE) sent a moon shot out to center to score three runs and knot the game at 6-6 entering the fifth.
- The visitors retook the lead in the fifth with a sacrifice fly to go up 7-6, but the Golden Rams answered back in the bottom of the frame with three runs to jump out to the 9-7 advantage.
- Following a scoreless sixth, the Golden Rams closed out the game with reliever Andrew Scarpelli (LEWISBERRY, PA/TRINITY) only allowing one hit and forcing a fly out to end the game with WCU coming out victorious 9-7 in the nightcap.
Melone was perfect at the dish again in game two – this time going 4-for-4 with a run and three RBI. Jarmuz's long bomb netted him three RBI in the second outing and Ward and Coyle tied for the team lead with two runs scored to end the evening.
Michael Deitz (LEWISBERRY, PA/TRINITY) improves to 2-0 after allowing just one hit and no runs in 2.0 innings pitched, while Scarpelli earned his second save of the weekend thanks to a scoreless seventh inning.
