WEST CHESTER, Pa.- In need of a pair of victories to help bolster its postseason chances entering the final week of the regular season, the West Chester University baseball team hosted Kutztown in a special senior day doubleheader on Saturday afternoon. Game one was one of the lowest scoring games of the season for the Golden Rams and unfortunately it proved to be a losing effort as West Chester fell by a final of 2-1. In game two, the West Chester offense came to life and carried West Chester to a 13-0 victory over Kutztown to even the series at 1-1.
Prior to first pitch of game one, West Chester took a moment to honor its 19-player senior class, which included
Tyler Forbes (Athens, Pa./Athens Area), Joey Coyle (Wilmington, Del./Salesianum), Drew Jarmuz (Kennett Square, Pa./Kennett), Andrew Scarpelli (Lewisberry, Pa./Trinity), Joe Zirolli (Kennett, Pa./Kennett Square), Alex Gouveia (Phoenixville, Pa./Spring-Ford), Jon Fisher (Plymouth Meeting, Pa./Plymouth Whitemarsh), Collin Healey (Hatfield, Pa./North Penn), Culver Hughes (Exton, Pa./West Chester East), Jon Hansen (Cherry Hill, N.J./George Mason), Jared Melone (North Wales, Pa./North Penn), Scott McKenna (Havertown, Pa./Haverford), Tim Edwards (Hershey, Pa./Hershey), Michael Deitz (Avon Grove, Pa./Avon Grove), Michael Krusinksi (Meford, N.J./Bishop Eustace), and Kyle Feaster (Trooper, Pa./Methacton).
Game One: Kutztown 2 West Chester 1
- Unimpressed by the Golden Rams senior day festivities, Kutztown opened the scoring early as the Golden Bears plated a run during the top of the second to claim an early 1-0 lead.
- In the home half of the sixth, Zirolli did what he has done so frequently this season as he deposited a home run over the left field fence into the trees to even the score at 1-1. This home run gave Zirolli 12 on the season, which places him just one home run away from tying the record set by current Oakland Athletics farmhand Nick Ward ('18) who connected on1 3 long balls during the 2018 season.
- In the top of the seventh, Kutztown answered back with another run to claim just its fifth win of the season by a final score of 2-1.
- Zach Rice (Honey Brook, Pa./Twin Valley) got the start on the mound and lasted 6.1 surrendering five hits and two runs while striking out six before exiting in favor of Nick Picariello (Philadelphia, Pa./Germantown Academy) who tossed the final 0.2 of an inning allowing one hit and one walk while striking out a pair in the loss.
Game Two: WCU 13 Kutztown 0
- In the home half of the first, West Chester claimed its first lead of the afternoon as Melone drove in Feaster with a Sacrifice Fly to center who had opened the inning with a leadoff double to left before advancing to third on a wild pitch to give West Chester the early lead.
- West Chester added two more runs to its lead during the second inning of play when Zach Wright (Burlington County, N.J./Northern Burlington) roped a two-RBI double to left to give West Chester a commanding 3-0 lead.
- In the third inning, West Chester extended its lead when Corey Webb (Easton, Pa./Easton) reached on an error to score Zirolli and give West Chester a 4-0 lead.
- In the fourth, the lead grew once again as Melone connected on an RBI double to stretch the lead to 5-0 before a two-RBI single from Zirolli made the score 7-0 in favor of the purple and gold.
- In the fifth, West Chester continued its offensive onslaught as the Wright connected on another two-RBI double before scoring on an RBI single from Justin Horn (Willow Grove, Pa./Upper Dublin) to give the purple and gold a commanding 10-0 lead. Melone followed this up with another RBI double of his own to stretch the lead to 11-0 before Zirolli delivered an RBI groundout to stretch the lead to 12-0. Luke Cantwell (Broomall, Pa./Marple Newtown) tripled to center to score Melone, which extended the lead to 13-0.
- Fisher went six innings to secure the senior day victory scattering just two hits over the course his six-shutout innings while striking out eight to improve to 5-3 on the year. Gouveia entered for the final inning of work surrendering just two hits and one walk while also striking out one to allow West Chester to earn the 13-0 victory.
Up Next:
West Chester will be back in action tomorrow afternoon at Kutztown for the final two games of the four-game set beginning at 1 p.m.
