WEST CHESTER, PA – Seton Hill's Omar Ward hit two home runs and knocked in nine altogether as the Griffins pounded out 21 hits in an 18-7 victory over No. 13 West Chester in the second round of the 2022 NCAA Division II Baseball Atlantic Regional Friday afternoon.
The contest was the first of what has become a best-of-3 tournament to decide the winner of the pod. The game was delayed 3 hours, 12 minutes by lightning in the middle of the eighth inning. By the time play resumed and the rest of the game was completed close to 5 p.m., the second game of the day had to be postponed to Saturday.
Ward hit a grand slam, and Max Mandler hit a three-run shot, during a seven-run second that erased a 1-0 lead by West Chester. The Golden Rams'
Mike Ferrara (Jamison, Pa./Archbishop Wood) had given the purple & gold a short-lived lead in the top of the second with a solo shot. Ward added a three-run homer in the third that pushed the Griffins' lead to 10-1.
West Chester battled back with a four-spot in the fourth.
Keith Flaherty (Philadelphia, Pa./St. Joseph's Prep) singled in a run, and then
Sean Szestowicki (Mount Royal, N.J./Kingsway Regional) doubled with the bases loaded that brought everyone home. However, Seton Hill answered with another three-run frame in its half of the fourth to take a 13-5 lead.
The teams traded runs in the sixth, and then the Griffins plated four in the seventh to take an 18-6 lead. West Chester scored a run in the top of the eighth before the delay hit.
Ferrara finished 3-for-5 with his eighth home run of the season and two runs scored. Szestowicki was 3-for-4 with his three-run double, and Flaherty finished 2-for-5.
West Chester and Seton Hill will go at it again Saturday at 11 a.m. If the Golden Rams defeat the Griffins in that contest, then a winner-take-all game will follow at approximately 3 p.m. A Seton Hill win in the first game would eliminate West Chester from the postseason and move Seton Hill to the Super Regional next weekend.
