KISSIMMEE, Fla. – Coming off a convincing 8-2 victory over Minnesota Duluth last night, the No. 10 West Chester University baseball team returned to the Osceola Heritage Park Stadium in Kissimmee, Florida to square off against Wayne State on Tuesday evening. Despite a career-high seven strikeouts from senior pitcher
Tim Edwards (HERSHEY, PA./HERSHEY), West Chester fell 7-2 to the Warriors in the fifth of its six games in the Sunshine State.
With the loss, the Golden Rams drop to 7-2 overall this season ahead of their showdown against defending NCAA DII National Champions Augustana tomorrow morning. West Chester enters tomorrow's outing ranked No. 10 in the country according to today's National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Top 25 Poll, while the Vikings – who entered the season atop the preseason poll – found themselves outside the national top-25 on Tuesday for the first time this year. Coming off a 4-2 loss against Wayne State on Tuesday, Augustana fell to 7-4 on the season, which dropped the Vikings from No. 15 last week to unranked in this week's release.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- The Warriors kicked off the evening with back-to-back singles from Jacob Finkbeiner and Michael Maclean, before five-hole hitter Hunter Delanoy brought in both runners with a triple to put WSU in front 2-0 through the visitors half of the first.
- Facing a 2-2 count, leadoff hitter Justin Horn (WILLOW GROVE, PA./UPPER DUBLIN) reached first after being hit by a pitch, but the sophomore would be stranded following a fly out and back-to-back strikeouts from the heart of the WCU order.
- Freshman Luke Cantwell (BROOMALL, PA./MARPLE NEWTOWN) led off the fourth with a triple, and he was brought in on the next at bat thanks to a RBI single to left from Joey Coyle (WILMINGTON, DEL./SALESIANUM).
- Trailing 6-1 in the eighth, Coyle came through once again – this time with a single to score Joe Zirolli (KENNETT, PA./KENNETT SQUARE) – to give Coyle his second RBI of the day and to bring the Golden Rams within four (6-2) heading into the ninth.
- The Warriors tacked on another run in the top of the seventh to push the their lead to 7-2, and that would be where the scoring stopped as the Golden Rams only managed a single in the home half of the ninth frame.
Coyle paced the squad with two hits on Tuesday, and the senior accounted for both of the Golden Rams' two RBI against Wayne State. Zirolli and Cantwell both contributed two runs on Tuesday night, with Cantwell also notching his second triple of the season.
Making his first start of the season, Edwards got saddled with the loss on Tuesday after giving up two runs (both earned) on five hits with seven K's in 4.0 innings pitched.
UP NEXT
West Chester caps off its spring break trip tomorrow (March 14) against Augustana at 9:00 a.m. from the Lake Myrtle Field in Auburndale, Florida.
