CARY, NC –
Zack Wright (Columbus, N.J./No. Burlington County Regional) hit a two-run home run and gunned down the potential tying run at the plate in the eighth inning to lead West Chester to a 5-4 victory over Franklin Pierce at the DII Baseball Challenge at the U.S. Baseball Training Complex Sunday morning.
West Chester (7-2) earned a split of its four games in the Tar Heel State while avenging a loss to Franklin Pierce (5-5) on Friday.
Starter
Gabe Rappa (Paulsboro, N.J./Neumann-Goretti) tossed six strong innings to improve to 3-0 on the year. He allowed four runs on 10 hits. He walked three and struck out five. He was relieved by
Nolan Graber (Pennsburg, Pa/Upper Perkiomen), who threw the seventh and eighth without yielding a run. Freshman
Kyle Lazer (Havertown, Pa./Msgr. Bonner & Prendie) came on in the ninth to pick up his first college save.
Wright delivered a two-out, two-run shot to left in the fourth that put the Golden Rams on top for good, 4-3. An RBI double from
Keith Flaherty (Philadelphia, Pa./St. Joseph's Prep) in the fifth pushed the Golden Rams' lead to 5-3 after five.
Franklin Pierce added a run in the sixth, but that was all the Ravens would get thanks to West Chester's bullpen and Wright's arm. In the top of the eighth with runners on second and third and one out, The Ravens' Joel Lara lifted a flyball to left. Wright made the catch and then fired a one-hop strike to catcher
John DeMucci (Swarthmore, Pa./Msgr. Bonner & Prendie) to cut down Joseph Pesce who had tagged in an attempt to score the game-tying run.
A pair of errors led to two unearned runs for the Golden Rams in the bottom of the third that let the Golden Rams cut into the Ravens' three-run advantage.
Justin Horn (Willow Grove, Pa./Upper Dublin) singled in Wright, who had reached on an error that allowed
Sean Szestowicki, who also reached on an error, to score. That cut FPU's lead to 3-2.
Horn finished the day 2-for-4 with an RBI. Eight of the nine batters in the starting lineup registered a hit.
Franklin Pierce scored a run in the second and two more in the third to open up its early lead. However, Rappa settled down over the next three innings while West Chester broke out the bats and mounted its comeback.
