No. 18 Baseball Storms Back to Take Both From Lock Haven on Friday

WEST CHESTER, Pa. - Senior Jared Melone (NORTH WALES, PA./NORTH PENN) and freshman Luke Cantwell (BROOMALL, PA./MARPLE NEWTOWN) both homered in a 6-3 Golden Ram victory to start the day, before a RBI walk by junior Corey Webb (EASTON, PA./EASTON) secured an 8-7 come-from-behind victory in Friday's nightcap to give the No. 18 West Chester University baseball team two victories over Lock Haven at Serpico Field.

The Golden Rams improve to 14-5 overall and 5-1 in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) play following Friday's victories. On the other side of the diamond, Lock Haven drops to 7-12 on the year behind a 1-5 mark in league games after losing its fourth-and-fifth games in a row on Friday.
 
GAME ONE: West Chester – 6 | Lock Haven – 3

• A RBI double by Lock Haven's Max Joseph sparked a three-run first inning for the visitors, before West Chester went on trim the deficit to just one following RBI from Melone and Michael Krusinski (MEDFORD, NJ/BISHOP EUSTACE PREP) in the bottom of the first frame.
• With Lock Haven holding onto a one-run lead in the third, Melone stepped to the dish and smacked his second homer of the season to put the Golden Rams in front 4-3 entering the fourth.
• Not to be outdone, Cantwell came to the plate in the next inning and sent his first long ball of the season over the left field wall to score Jon Hansen (CHERRY HILL, N.J./GEORGE MASON) and put the home team in front 6-3 through four.
• Starter Jon Fisher (PLYMOUTH MEETING, PA./PLYMOUTH WHITEMARSH) kept the Bald Eagles hitless across the final two frames to secure the 6-3 come-from-behind victory for the Golden Rams to start the day.

Melone went 2-for-3 with three RBI in the opener, while Cantwell chipped in one hit and two RBI for the Golden Rams to start the day.

Fisher (3-1) got his first complete-game victory of the season in game one after surrendering three runs (all earned) on six hits with a season-high eight strikeouts in 7.0 innings pitched.

 
GAME TWO: West Chester – 8 | Lock Haven – 7 (8)

• WCU looked like it might run away with game two, as the Golden Rams hung three runs on Lock Haven starter Scott Leitholf in the first inning of play.
• West Chester kept that three-point cushion through the second, but Lock Haven swung back with six runs over the next two frames to put the Bald Eagles in front 6-3 entering the fifth.
• WCU got within two following an error by the LHU rightfielder in the sixth, before Joe Zirolli (KENNETT, PA./KENNETT SQUARE) smashed his team-leading fourth home run of the season to square the game at 6-6. With the score knotted at 6-6, Joey Coyle (WILMINGTON, DEL./SALESIANUM) tripled in Zach Wright (BURLINGTON COUNTRY, NJ/NORTHERN BURLINGTON COUNTY REGIONAL) to give the Golden Rams their first lead (7-6) since the home half of the first inning.
• LHU scored one run in the seventh and kept the Golden Rams off the board in the bottom of the stanza to force extra baseball in game two.
• Pinch hitter Brian Verratti (PHILADELPHIA, PA. NEUMANN-GORETTI) led off the bottom of the eighth with a walk before Coyle also drew a walk to put two runners on with no outs. Following a sacrifice bunt by Hansen to advance the runners, Cantwell was internationally walked to load the bases with only one out. Facing a full court, Webb drew a walk to bring Verratti in from third to secure the 8-7 win for the Golden Rams in the nightcap.

Zirolli paced the WCU offense with two hits, two runs and three RBI in game two, while Krusinski, Coyle and Kyle Feaster (TROOPER, PA./METHACTION) each added two hits to end the day.

Joe Peluo (DOYLESTOWN, PA. LASALLE) (1-0) got the win in game two after forcing a put up and logging a strikeout against the two batters he faced in the eighth.
 
UP NEXT
The Golden Rams will head to Watkins Field tomorrow to close out their four-game series against Lock Haven with a doubleheader scheduled to start at 1:00 p.m.