AURBURNDALE, Fla. – Senior
Jared Melone (NORTH WALES, PA./NORTH PENN) and sophomore
Justin Horn (WILLOW GROVE, PA./UPPER DUBLIN) combined for eight hits and eight RBI and the Golden Rams recorded a season-high 19 hits, as the No. 10 West Chester University baseball team rolled defending national champion Augustana 17-5 on Wednesday morning.
The Golden Rams move to 7-2 on season with Wednesday's victory and West Chester ends its spring break trip in Florida having won four of its six contests overall. WCU, who entered Wednesday's outing ranked No. 10 in the country according to yesterday's National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Top 25 Poll, will play its next three games on the campus of the University of Delaware, starting with a meeting against Goldey-Beacom on Saturday (3:00 p.m.). West Chester's contest against the Lightning on Saturday is first time the two programs have met in nearly 100 years, with the last meeting – a 4-3 West Chester win – taking place all the way back in 1926.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Augustana tacked on two runs in the bottom of the of the first, but the Golden Rams quickly bounced back with a three-spot in the second thanks to a three-RBI triple from Horn.
- Melone, Joe Zirolli (KENNETT, PA./KENNETT) and Michael Krusinski (MEDFORD, NJ BISHOP EUSTACE PREP) loaded the bases in the third with three straight singles, before Jon Hansen (CHERRY HILL, N.J./GEORGE MASON) notched a sacrifice fly to score Melone from third.
- With WCU leading 4-2, the Vikings added two more runs in the bottom of the third and fourth frames to square the game at 4-4 heading into the fifth.
- With two on and one out in the sixth, Zirolli collected his ninth RBI of the season – on a sacrifice fly to score Horn – to put the Golden Rams in front again, 5-4.
- West Chester logged back-to-back walks in the seventh to put two runners on with one out, before Joey Coyle (WILMINGTON, DEL./SALESIANUM) drew a walk of his own on five pitches to load the bases. With the bases juiced, a pitch by Augustana reliever Jasper Elfrink got away from catcher Will Olson, which scored Corey Webb (EASTON, PA./EASTON) from third to put WCU in front by two (6-4) following the passed ball.
- The Vikings closed the gap to 6-5 in the home half of the seventh following a RBI single from Ryan Nickel.
- After scoring two runs via walk in the eighth, Melone stepped to the dish and smashed a three-RBI double to balloon the Golden Rams' lead to 12-5 entering the bottom the frame. West Chester's big eighth inning has been somewhat of a stable for the Golden Rams during their spring break trip, as West Chester has scored a combined 12 runs in the eighth frame across its last three outings (2-1 in those games).
- If there were ever any doubts in Wednesday's game, West Chester promptly put them to bed in the top of the ninth. The Golden Rams tacked on an additional five runs in the home half of the ninth to put the game well out of reach at 17-5.
- Up comfortably in the ninth, senior Tyler Forbes (ATHENS, PA./ATHENS AREA) ended the game by striking out two Augustana batters to seal the convincing 12-run win for the Golden Rams on Wednesday afternoon.
Melone, who entered today's game as the NCAA DII active career leader in batting average (.414), went 4-for-5 on Wednesday and tied Horn for the team lead with four RBI. Horn's four RBI on the day marked a season high for the sophomore and he also added two runs in his six plate appearances. Cantwell, Zirolli and Webb each tallied two hits in the victory, with Webb's three runs scored topping the team and standing as the most by the catcher this season. Overall, WCU saw 12 individuals get a plate appearance in Wednesday's victory and that group combined for a season-high 16 RBI for the Purple & Gold.
On the mound,
Nick Picariello (PHILADELPHIA, PA./GERMANTOWN ACADEMY) got the win to improve to 1-0 on the year
after logging a team-high three strikeouts in 2.2 innings pitched.
