SHIPPENSBURG, PA – Mike Ferrara (Jamison, Pa./Archbishop Wood) singled home
Nick D'Amore (Philadelphia, Pa./Neumann-Goretti) with the eventual winning run in the top of the seventh inning of game two as visiting West Chester earned a split with homestanding Shippensburg on a wet Thursday afternoon.
West Chester (15-9, 15-9 PSAC East) remains in second place in the league standings with eight games remaining, including another doubleheader at home Friday with Shippensburg (15-15, 13-13).
The Golden Rams vicariously clung to a 1-0 lead in the top of the sixth when they struck for a pair of runs that opened up a 3-0 advantage.
Joe Kaleck (Southampton, Pa./Neshaminy) doubled in a run, and
Brian Verratti (Philadelphia, Pa./Neumann-Goretti) plated Kaleck with a single.
Shippensburg responded with three runs of its own off starter
Culver Hughes (Exton, Pa./West Chester East). However, the senior settled down, got out of the inning without any more damage and finished out the game for his fourth win of the season. He allowed three runs on five hits, struck out three and did not walk a batter in just 77 pitches over seven innings. Hughes has walked just one batter in his last 14 innings pitched.
Both
Justin Horn (Willow Grove, Pa./Upper Dublin) and Verratti finished game two 2-for-3.
In the opener, the Raiders scored two in the second and three in the fourth to open up a 5-0 lead that it would not relinquish. Verratti scored on a wild pitch in the fifth for West Chester's lone run. However, the Golden Rams mustered just two hits off Kiernan Higgins (4-4), who went the distance to even his record on the year. He struck out 12 batters in the process.
WCU left-hander
Braeden Fausnaught (Danville, Pa./Danville) also went the distance on the hill. He surrendered five runs on eight hits in six innings of work. He walked two and struck out three, suffering his first loss of the spring.
West Chester and Shippensburg meet again Friday for a doubleheader beginning at noon at the Maple Zone Sports Complex in Aston, Pa.
