MANSFIELD, Pa. – The No. 22 West Chester University baseball team combined for 38 runs on Friday afternoon to take both games of its doubleheader against Mansfield on the road, claiming game one 21-4 before coming out victorious 17-5 in the nightcap.
With the wins, the Golden Rams improve to 29-13 overall and 18-8 in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) play, while the Mountaineers fall to 9-31 on the year and 3-22 in league play after losing their 14th and 15
th games in a row.
Following two Millersville victories over Bloomsburg this afternoon, the Golden Rams and the Marauders remain tied atop the PSAC Eastern Division standings with 18-8 records in league play. With West Chester holding the tiebreaker over Millersville this season, the only way that West Chester would not claim the East title is if the Marauders managed to take more games from BU tomorrow than the Golden Rams were from Mansfield.
West Chester's regular-season finale against the Mountaineers got a change of scenery today, as the doubleheader originally schedule to take place on Sunday – April  6 – at Serpico Field will now be played in Mansfield (1:30 p.m.) tomorrow - May 5 -due to rain projected in West Chester throughout the weekend.
Game One: West Chester – 21 | Mansfield – 4
The Golden Rams logged a season-high four home runs in game one and tagged the Mountaineers for 21 hits in the convincing victory.
- West Chester wasted no time distancing itself from Mansfield in game one, as home runs from Nick Ward (KENNETT SQUARE, PA./UNIONVILLE), Jon Hansen (CHERRY HILL, N.J./GEORGE MASON) and Jared Melone (NORTH WALES, PA./NORTH PENN) in the top for the first sparked a ten-run inning for the visitors to start the afternoon.
- Up 10-0 in the second, Joey Coyle (WILMINGTON, DEL./SALESIANUM) notched his fourth homer of the season (a two-run shot) to stretch the WCU advantage to 12-0 through 2.5 frames.
- Leading 13-4 in the seventh, the Golden Rams left no doubts – scoring an additional eight runs in the top of the stanza to seal the dominating 21-4 victory to start the day.
Shane Dressler (YORK HAVEN, PA./RED LAND) paced West Chester with four hits in game one, while Coyle went 3-for-5 with a team-high five RBI and three runs scored.  Ward not only recorded four RBI in the victory but his long ball in the first inning gave the senior his 11th dinger of the season – putting him in five-way tie for third place on WCU's single season home runs list. Hansen and
Corey Webb (EASTON, PA./EASTON) both tallied three RBI to begin the afternoon, while Melone chipped in three hits (one homer), three runs, and two RBI overall.
On the mound,
Jon Fisher (PLYMOUTH MEETING, PA./PLYMOUTH WHITEMARSH) improved to 5-2 on the season after allowing just four runs (all earned) on four hits in 5.0 innings pitched.
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Game Two: West Chester – 17 | Mansfield -5
West Chester's bats were alive and well in game two, as the Golden Rams reached the 20-hit plateau for the second time on the day.
- Following a RBI single from Ward, Zach Sheranko (TANNERSVILLE, PA./POCONO MOUNTAIN EAST) belted a three-run shot to left to put the visitors in front 4-0 through the first half inning.
- The Golden Rams added five more runs over the next two innings, including a two-run bomb by Ward in the third that pushed Nick into a five-way tie for second on the West Chester single season homers list with 12.
- West Chester tacked on an additional six runs in the fifth and another two in sixth to go up 17-4, before Mansfield closed out the game with a RBI single from Tyler Guidos to bring the final score from Shaute Field to 17-5.
Sheranko tied a season high with five RBI in the nightcap and Ward tallied four hits, four runs and four RBI in the victory.
Christian Bateman (ASTON, PA/SUN VALLEY) record four hits and two RBI in the victory, while Dressler chipped in three RBI and two hits to close out the evening.
Zach Rice (HONEY BROOK, PA./TWIN VALLEY) got his team-leading seventh victory of the year after going six innings and surrendering four runs (all earned) on four hits with five strikeouts.
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