No. 17 WCU Takes One Game From Kutztown on Friday

WEST CHESTER, Pa. – After taking both games from East Stroudsburg on the road on Wednesday, the No. 17 West Chester University baseball team returned home on Friday afternoon to square off against Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) opponent Kutztown University at Serpico Field – a venue where the Golden Rams had yet suffered a defeat (8-0) heading into Friday's doubleheader.

Jared Melone (NORTH WALES, PA./NORTH PENN) notched four RBI and a home run in game one to propel WCU to a convincing 10-3 victory to start the day, before the Golden Rams surrendered seven runs in the fifth inning to KU in game two to drop the nightcap 7-6, despite leading by six runs for a majority of the outing.

Heading into tomorrow's twinbill in Kutztown, the Golden Rams sit at 23-10 overall and 12-6 in PSAC, while KU is 14-15 on the year and 8-10 in league play following Friday's split.

Game One: West Chester- 10 | Kutztown – 3

• The Golden Rams jumped out to a sizable lead early on Friday, as Melone's second home run of the week (a three-run shot) capped a five-inning second for West Chester to put the home team in front, 5-0.
• Kutztown answered back with a three-run third to hack the WCU advantage down to just two (5-3) heading into the bottom of the third.
• Following a walk to lead off the top of the fourth, West Chester starter Jon Fisher (PLYMOUTH MEETING, PA./PLYMOUTH WHITEMARSH) forced a groundout and struck out two-straight batters to keep the Golden Bears off the board in the top of the fourth.
• Up 5-3, Melone notched his fourth RBI of the day – scoring Joey Coyle (WILMINGTON, DEL./SALESIANUM) from third with a groundout – before Shane Dressler (YORK HAVEN, PA./RED LAND) sent a ringing 2-run homer over the right field fence to stretch the WCU lead to five, 8-3, heading into the fifth.
• The Golden Rams added a run in both the fifth and six innings to go up 10-3 and Fisher made sure West Chester kept its cushion, as the junior faced just eight batters in the final two frames and kept Kutztown hitless in that span to seal the 10-3 victory for WCU to start the day.

Melone logged his 20th multi-hit game of the season in the opener, leading the Golden Rams with two hits, four RBI and a homerun to start the afternoon. Dressler and Zach Sheranko (TANNERSVILLE, PA./POCONO MOUNTAIN EAST) both logged two hits in the opening victory and Dressler and Coyle each chipped in two of the Golden Rams' 10 RBI against Kutztown.

On the mound, Fisher (3-2) recorded his second complete game of the season after surrendering three runs (all earned) on five hits with six strikeouts against just four walks.

 
Game Two: West Chester – 6 | Kutztown – 7

• Melone came through again in game two, doubling in Nick Ward (KENNETT SQUARE, PA./UNIONVILLE) and Justin Horn (WILLOW GROVE, PA./UPPER DUBLIN) to put the Golden Rams up 2-0 in the first with just one out. Jon Hansen (CHERRY HILL, N.J./GEORGE MASON) followed with his own 2-RBI double four batters later to cap off the big four-run first for West Chester.
• The Golden Rams tacked on two more runs in the second to stretch the home team's lead to 6-0 through the first two innings of action.
• Up 6-0 and with Zach Rice (HONEY BROOK, PA./TWIN VALLEY) retiring the first 12 batters he faced, it looked like West Chester would roll to victory but things took a turn for the worse in the fifth.
• The inning started with an error and that trend continued throughout the fifth frame. The Golden Bears only logged three hits in the stanza but Kutztown was able to put up seven runs in the frame thanks to three costly errors by West Chester in clutch situations.
• WCU failed to land any baserunners in the sixth but Rice was able to keep the Golden Bears off the board in the seventh and the score remained 7-6 going into the home half of the final frame.
• The Golden Rams were unable to get anything going in the final half inning and the visitors were able to escape with the 7-6 come-from-behind win.

Horn and Hansen both notched two hits in the loss, with Hansen and Melone  adding two RBI a piece for West Chester. Horn and Ward each collected two runs in game two and Drew Jarmuz (KENNETT SQUARE, PA./UNIONVILLE) added one of the Golden Rams' six hits in the nightcap.

Despite a strong start, Rice drops to 5-2 on the year after giving up seven runs on four hits with two walks and three strikeouts in 7.0 innings pitched – giving Rice his second complete game of the year.