LOCK HAVEN, Pa.-Looking to complete a three-game sweep of Lock Haven (6-10, 0-3), West Chester (12-2, 3-0) took to the road on Wednesday evening for the third and final game of the season series vs the Bald Eagles. Lock Haven pulled ahead early with a four-run second inning but was kept in check offensively for the next 11 innings of baseball, mustering just one hit and no runs after the second as West Chester erased its early deficit and earned a 10-4 victory over Lock Haven in 13 innings.
After trailing throughout the game, West Chester scored the game-tying run in the top of the ninth, with its backs firmly pressed against the wall when
Zack Wright (Columbus, N.J./Northern Burlington) singled home
John DeMucci (Swarthmore, Pa./Msgr. Bonner & Prendie), who had reached on a single earlier in the inning and stolen second to get himself into scoring position. With the score locked at 4-4, West Chester kept Lock Haven off the scoreboard in the bottom of the ninth, forcing extra innings.
After three scoreless innings to open extra innings, West Chester exploded for six runs in the top of the 13th to take a commanding 10-4 lead heading into the bottom of the 13th.
Zack Miles (Hatfield, Pa./North Penn) drove in what would be the game-winning run via an RBI double to center field, scoring
Corey Stouffer (Souderton, Pa./North Penn) and moving Demucci over to third, which allowed him to score on an RBI single by
Joe Kaleck (Southampton, Pa./Neshaminy) two batters later, stretching the lead to 6-4 in favor of West Chester.
Justin Horn (Willow Grove, Pa./Upper Dublin) followed this up with a bases-clearing, three-RBI triple, which gave West Chester a commanding 9-4 lead with one out in the 13th, prompting a pitching change for the Bald Eagles. Against a new pitcher,
Mike Ferrara (Jamison, Pa./Archbishop Wood) scored Horn with a sacrifice fly, stretching the lead to 10-4 with two outs in the 13th. Lock Haven managed to escape the inning with no further damage, heading to the home half of the inning trailing by six.
Andrew Cantwell (Broomall, Pa./Marple Newtown) entered to pitch the 13th inning and made short work of the Bald Eagles, setting them down in order.
Lock Haven opened the scoring in the second inning, with a four-run home half, scoring four runs on four hits, including a two-RBI double to take a 4-0 lead into the third inning.
In the third inning, West Chester answered, getting three runs back, beginning with an RBI single from Kaleck
, which plated
Sean Szestowicki (Mount Royal, N.J./Kingsway Regional), cutting the deficit to 4-1. Horn followed this up with an RBI double into center, scoring Wright, which cut the lead in half, making the score 4-2. Kaleck came around to score later in the inning, scoring on an RBI sac fly from Ferrara
, further trimming the lead to 4-3 entering the home half of the third.
Over the next three innings, West Chester kept Lock Haven off the basepaths, as the Bald Eagles did not record another hit until the bottom of the seventh when Gavin Trautman hit a two-out single through the left side, but he was unable to come around to score as the score remained locked at 4-3. This single would be the Bald Eagles final single of regulation as Lock Haven was again held hitless in the eighth and ninth innings, mustering just one base runner over these two innings, while West Chester evened the score at 4-4 in the ninth to force extra innings.
Gabe Rappa (Paulsboro, N.J./Neumann-Goretti) got the start for West Chester and lasted six innings after an eventful start to his outing, scattering five hits and four runs with one walk and four strikeouts.
Nolan Graber (Pennsburg, Pa./Upper Perkiomen) entered in relief and pitched three scoreless innings, giving up one hit, and one walk with four strikeouts before
Kyle Lazer (Havertown, Pa./Msgr. Bonner & Prendie) (1-0) came in and pitched three scoreless innings of his own, giving up just one walk while fanning six to keep Lock Haven in check and earn his first college victory.
All told, seven different Golden Rams registered hits in the victory as the Golden Rams scored their 10 runs with 13 hits in the victory. Kaleck and DeMucci ended the game with three hits each while Horn finished with a team-high four-RBI on a 2-for-7 day at the plate, thanks in large part to his bases clearing triple in the 13th, which gave West Chester important insurance entering the bottom half of the inning in the 10-4 victory.
Kevin Worek got the start for Lock Haven, going five innings, scattering three runs on three hits with six strikeouts before exiting for Matt Lingenfelter, who went 3.2 with just four hits and two strikeouts but was charged with a blown save after giving up the tying run in the top of the ninth. Jared Colledge followed this up with 2.1 scoreless innings, allowing just two base runners before exiting in favor of Rylan Bailey, who took the loss, giving up six runs on five hits in the 13th, in the setback for Lock Haven.
West Chester will be back in action on Friday afternoon in a single game vs Mansfield inside Serpico Stadium, with that contest set to begin at 2:00 p.m.
