EAST STROUDSBURG, Pa. – Looking to avenge a sweep at home yesterday, the No. 18 West Chester University baseball team headed to Hughes Field on Sunday afternoon to close out their four-game series with East Stroudsburg in a marquee Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Eastern Division doubleheader. The Golden Rams dropped Sunday's opener 3-2 in extra innings, before a grand slam by sophomore
Justin Horn (WILLOW GROVE, PA./UPPER DUBLIN) in the top of the sixth propelled West Chester past ESU 9-6 to cap off Sunday's twinbill.
The Golden Rams move to 17-8 overall following Sunday's split and moves WCU to 8-4 in PSAC play to keep the Purple & Gold in third place in the East standings. The Warriors, who took three of four from the Golden Rams over the weekend, go to 22-9 on the year and the three wins cements ESU in second in the conference standings behind a 9-3 mark in league outings ahead of its non-conference game against LIU Post on Wednesday.
GAME ONE: West Chester - 3 | ESU - 4
- WCU starter Zach Rice (HONEY BROOK, PA./TWIN VALLEY) and East Stroudsburg hurler Mike Yates combined to hold their opposition to just one hit across the first three innings of play.
- Kyle Feaster (TROOPER, PA./METHACTION) led off the fourth with a triple and he was brought home quickly thanks to a ground out by Jared Melone (NORTH WALES, PA./NORTH PENN) to put the visitors in front 1-0 entering the home half of the frame.
- ESU squared the game in the bottom of the inning off a fielder's choice, before WCU went up two in the sixth with a ground-rule double by Joe Zirolli (KENNETT, PA./KENNETT SQUARE) and a RBI single by freshman Luke Cantwell (BROOMALL, PA./MARPLE NEWTOWN).
- After WCU went hitless in the seventh, Rice walked two of the first three batters he faced to put two men on with one out for ESU. The Warriors went on to hack the deficit to one with a single from PJ Van Orman before squaring the game at 3-3 following a RBI single from Logan Stirr to force extra innings in Sunday's opener.
- The Golden Rams went down in order in the eighth to set up the Warriors for the win with a single from Torreullas to end the game.
Feaster went 2-for-3 with two runs scored in game one, while Melone, Zirolli, and Melone each recorded one hit in the loss.
Rice struggled with his control on the mound, as the sophomore walked nine batters in a no-decision.
Joe Peluso (DOYLESTOWN, PA./LASALLE) got his first loss of the season on Sunday after giving up the game-winning in the eighth.
GAME TWO: West Chester - 9 | ESU - 6
- Feaster doubled in Horn in the third to put the visitors on the board, before ESU tacked on two runs in the bottom of the fourth to grab the 2-1 advantage.
- The Golden Rams regained the lead in the top of the fifth, thanks to RBI singles from both Horn and Melone. ESU tallied three runs in the bottom of the fifth to go up 5-3, before a huge sixth inning from the visitors completely changed the complexion on Sunday's outing.
- With the bases juiced in the bottom of the sixth, Horn cranked out his first career grand slam to put WCU in front 7-5, before Zirolli followed with a RBI single to push the West Chester cushion to 8-5 through six.
- After the Warriors cut the deficit to two in the sixth, freshman catcher JR Gifford (DOYLESTOWN, PA./ARCHBISHOP WOOD) put the exclamation point on the Golden Rams' win by sending out his third homer of the season in the seventh.
Horn paced all players with a career-high five RBI in the win to go along with a team-high three runs scored.
Tim Edwards (HERSHEY, PA./HERSHEY) moved to 1-1 on the season after giving up just one run (one earned) on one hit with three K's in 3.0 innings.
UP NEXT
West Chester continues conference play next weekend when the team travels to Shippensburg on Friday for a doubleheader against the Warriors scheduled to start at 1:00 p.m.
