SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. - Coming off a sweep of East Stroudsburg in its last outing, the No. 25 West Chester University baseball team returned to action on Thursday afternoon as the squad traveled to Fairchild Field to square off against Shippensburg University in a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) doubleheader.
The Golden Rams fell in the opening game of Thursday's twinbill 6-5 before handily taking game two 16-2 to leave Shippensburg with a split.
WCU (15-7, 4-4 PSAC) returns home tomorrow to close out its four-game series against the Raiders (11-14, 2-7 PSAC) with a doubleheader at Serpico Field scheduled to start at 1:00 p.m.
Game One: West Chester - 5 | Shippensburg - 6
- The host Raiders struck first on Thursday afternoon, as a double by Nick Spangler in the second inning drove in two runs to give Shippensburg the 2-0 advantage early.
- The Golden Rams knotted the score in the third frame thanks to RBI by Jared Melone (North Wales, Pa. / North Penn) and Shane Dressler (York Haven, Pa. / Red Land) to square the game at 2-2 after two and a half innings of action.
- Shippensburg tacked on three runs over the next three innings to go up 5-2 and that left West Chester down to its last at bats and facing a three-run deficit.
- With one out in the seventh, Joey Coyle (Wilmington, Del. / Salesianum) walked and then advanced to second following a single to left field by Justin Horn (Willow Grove, Pa. / Upper Dublin). With two runners on and two outs, Melone took the payoff pitch of a full count over the left field fence to give the junior his fourth long ball of the season and even the score at 5-5 heading into the home half of the seventh.
- The home team was pushed to its final out in the seventh, but Dalton Hoiles delivered with on a two-out RBI single to left to give the Raiders the hard-fought 6-5 victory to start the afternoon.
Melone led all players with three hits and four RBI in game one, while
Zach Sheranko (Tannersville, Pa. / Pocono Mountain East) and Horn each chipped in two hits in the losing effort.
On the mound,
Joe Peluso (Doylestown, Pa. / LaSalle) (1-2) got his first loss of the season after allowing the winning run to plate in the final frame.
Game Two: West Chester - 16 | Shippensburg – 2
- After waiting until the final inning to make a move in game one, the Golden Rams wasted no time taking control of things in the nightcap of Thursday's doubleheader.
- Dressler got West Chester on the board in the first with a RBI single to score Ward, before the visitors went off for five runs in the second to take the sizable 6-0 advantage.
- After the Golden Rams added six more runs over the next two innings to go up 12-0, Ward connected on his team-leading seventh home run of the season to put WCU in front 14-0 in the fourth stanza.
- With the score 14-0 in the fourth, Drew Jarmuz (Kennett Square, Pa. / Unionville) doubled in Dressler, prior to Sheranko sending a single out to left to score Jarmuz from second base and push the visitors' advantage to a comfortable 16-0.
- The Raiders managed to record a two-run homer in the seventh inning, but the home team would get no closer as reliever Nick Picariello (Philadelphia, Pa. / Germantown) struck out two of the final three batters he faced to secure the convincing 16-2 win for West Chester in game two of the twinbill.
Dressler logged a season-high four hits and five RBI in game two and tied a season-best mark with three runs scored. Ward recorded four RBI and a game-high four runs for the Golden Rams and notched his seventh long ball of the season to keep himself near the top of the PSAC leaderboard for home runs this year.
Bill Ford (Parkside, Pa. / Malvern Prep) (2-1) got the win for West Chester after giving up no runs on just three hits with two strikeouts and two walks in 4.0 innings pitched.
