WEST LAWN, Pa. – The No. 19 West Chester University baseball team's 2018 season came to an end on Saturday night, as the Golden Rams were eliminated from the 2018 NCAA DII Atlantic Regional following a 7-6 loss to No. 2 seed Millersville on Saturday night at Owls Park in West Lawn, Pa.
The top-seeded Golden Rams trailed the Marauders by five runs after seven innings, but West Chester managed to add two in the bottom of the eighth to make it 7-4 before a two-run single from
Joey Coyle (WILMINGTON, DEL./SALESIANUM) in the ninth brought WCU within a single run (7-6) with runners on the corners and nobody out. After a strikeout put the first out on the board, Millersville turned an ending-inning double play for the second inning in a row to hold on for the one-run victory on Saturday night.
Following a 3-2 defeat against Mercyhurst University yesterday evening, Saturday's loss eliminated the Golden Rams from the Atlantic Regional and capped off WCU's 2018 campaign at 31-17 overall. After closing out the regular season having won seven of their final eight contests, the Golden Rams went winless in the postseason after logging two losses in both the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Championship and the 2018 NCAA DII Atlantic Regional.
Saturday's triumph keeps one-loss Millersville (36-19) alive in the regional and the victory marks the first time in program history that the Marauders have defeated West Chester in postseason play. MU will now advance to play the winner between No. 4 seed Bloomsburg and seventh-seeded Charleston (W.Va.) in a game scheduled for tomorrow (May 20) at 7:00 p.m.
The Marauders struck first on Saturday with three runs in the top of the third before West Chester answered back with two runs in the bottom of the frame thanks to a double from
Kyle Irwin (HATBORO, PA./UPPER MORELAND), which ended up scoring both
Corey Webb (EASTON, PA./EASTON) and Irwin on the same play after right fielder Dominic Hardaway tossed the ball into the home dugout.
MU tacked on four runs across the fifth and sixth innings to go 7-2 and the score remained that way until the bottom of the eighth. West Chester led off the eighth with back-to-back singles by Coyle and Irwin, prior to
Justin Horn (WILLOW GROVE, PA./UPPER DUBLIN) being walked on a full count to load the bases with nobody out.
Nick Ward (KENNETT SQUARE, PA./UNIONVILLE) was then hit by a pitch for the 40th time in his career (third most in WCU history) to bring the score to 7-3 before
Jared Melone (NORTH WALES, PA./NORTH PENN) brought in Irwin with a fielder's choice to get West Chester within three (7-4) with two men on and only one out. The Golden Rams' eighth ended with Millersville turning a double play and the score remained 7-4 heading into the final frame.
After reliever
Zach Rice (HONEY BROOK, PA./TWIN VALLEY) struck out MU's Dominic Hardaway to keep the Marauders off the board in the top of the ninth,
Zach Sheranko (TANNERSVILLE, PA./POCONO MOUNTAIN EAST) led off the bottom of the final stanza with a single and he was followed by back-to-back walks by
Drew Jarmuz (KENNETT SQUARE, PA./UNIONVILLE) and Webb to give WCU the bases loaded with nobody out for the second inning in a row. With the bases juiced, Millersville was forced to go to the bullpen and bring in Bobby Dorta who played the entirety of Saturday's game at DH for the Marauders up to that point. Coyle was the first batter Dorta faced and Joey did not give his opponent a warm welcome as Coyle took a Dorta slider out to centerfield for a two-run single to bring West Chester within a single score (7-6) with no outs.
The Golden Rams' ninth ended eerily similar to their eighth frame, as ninth would also end with a strikeout and a double play but this time the DP by Millersville would not only end a WCU rally, but also West Chester's season.
Making just his fourth start of the year, Irwin led the Golden Rams with three hits on the day in his last game in the purple and gold. Fellow senior Sheranko logged two hits and a run scored in his last game as a Golden Ram, while Coyle added the final two of West Chester's seven hits on the day.
On the mound, graduate student
Mike Cipolla (NEWARK, DE/CHARTER SCHOOL OF WILMINGTON) tossed his final game for the Golden Rams – getting the loss after five runs (three earned) on six hits with four strikeouts before being taken out in the fifth innings due to an apparent hand injury.
Notes
It was an unfamiliar scene at the top of the Golden Rams' lineup on Saturday night, as WCU's core of Ward, Melone, and
Shane Dressler (YORK HAVEN, PA./RED LAND) were all held hitless against the Marauders. Melone and Ward did each manage to record a RBI in the loss though, giving Melone 69 runs batted in this year – putting the junior at No. 2 on WCU's single-season leaderboard behind Matt Cotellese's 71 RBI in 2009.
Playing in his final game for West Chester, Ward ended his career tying for the top spot on WCU's single-season home run list (13), while his 69 runs in 2018 put the senior at No. 2 on the Golden Rams' all-time standings. Overall, Nick ranks sixth on West Chester's career runs scored list with 175 and his 25 career long balls put the shortstop at No. 3 on the Golden Rams all-time homers list.
Playing three seasons at West Chester, Dressler ends his career ranking amongst the WCU all-time leaders with a .440 on base percentage and 139 career RBI.
