WILMINGTON, DE – Zack Wright (Columbus, N.J./No. Burlington County Regional) was 2-for-4 with a triple and a stolen base as 19th-ranked West Chester went on the road to defeat host Wilmington on a blustery, windy and cold afternoon at Jim Sherman Sr. Stadium, Tuesday.
West Chester (16-3) scored five runs on five hits while Wilmington (11-4), which received votes in the latest Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Division II poll, scored four runs on seven hits. The Golden Rams registered just one RBI base hit in contest. Two runs scored on a pair of sacrifice flies and two more scored on a pair of ground outs.
West Chester starter
Braeden Fausnaught (Danville, Pa./Danville) lasted 1.1 innings and allowed two runs, only one of them earned, on three hits.
Joe Messina (Philadelphia, Pa./Neumann-Goretti) came on to throw 3.2 scoreless innings without yielding a hit. He improved to 2-0 on the year, picking up the win on the mound. Freshman
Kyle Lazer (Havertown, Pa./Msgr. Bonner & Prendie) also threw 3.2 innings, finishing up for his second save of the season. Lazer surrendered one run on four hits, walked one and struck out two.
Trailing 1-0 entering the second, West Chester tied the game on a RBI single from
Corey Stouffer (Souderton, Pa./North Penn). With one out,
Luke Cantwell (Broomall, Pa./Marple Newtown) singled, and
Keith Flaherty (Philadelphia, Pa./St. Joseph's Prep) walked. Stouffer then singled through the right side plating Cantwell with the tying run.
Wilmington battled back to take a 2-1 lead in its half of the second. But, the Golden Rams responded quickly again with a two-spot in the third to take the lead that it would not relinquish. Wright walked to lead off the third and moved up to second on a wild pitch.
Joe Kaleck (Southampton, Pa./Neshaminy) reached on an error, that pushed Wright to third, and then moved up to second on a passed ball.
Justin Horn (Willow Grove, Pa./Upper Darby) grounded out to second, but Wright scored on the play.
West Chester posted two more runs in the fifth to open up a 5-2 lead. Wright led off with a triple, and Kaleck hit a sacrifice fly to left that Wright tagged and scored on. Horn followed with a walk, and
Mike Ferrara (Jamison, Pa./Archbishop Wood) singled to center and moved up to second when the Wildcats' centerfielder tried to get Horn at third. Cantwell followed with a grounder to third that scored Horn. Ferrara stole third, his 12th steal of the year in as many tries, but was stranded there.
The victory marked West Chester's first triumph over Wilmington since 2017.
West Chester returns home Friday for the beginning of a three-game series against Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Eastern Division rival Bloomsburg at Serpico Stadium. First pitch for the one, nine-inning league contest is set for 2 p.m.
