WEST CHESTER, PA – West Chester scored five runs in the first two innings, and
Joe Sperone (Broomall, Pa./Cardinal O'Hara) threw seven-plus stellar frames, as the ninth-ranked Golden Rams defeated visiting Lock Haven, 8-2, in a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) East baseball game Friday afternoon.
J.R. Gifford (Doylestown, Pa./Archbishop Wood) added a three-run homer in the bottom of the eighth to put an exclamation point on the win for West Chester (12-4, 3-1 PSAC East). Lock Haven (7-7, 1-3) pushed a pair of runs across in the top half of the eighth to get within three (5-2), but could not complete the comeback.
Zack Miles (Hatfield, Pa./North Penn) hit a two-out triple with the bases loaded in the bottom of the first to stake the hosts to an early lead.
Joe Kaleck (Southampton, Pa./Neshaminy) doubled with one out, and
Luke Cantwell (Broomall, Pa./Marple Newtown) grounded out moving Kaleck to third in the process. However, it was the next two at bats that defined things until the late innings.
Gifford and
John DeMucci (Swarthmore, Pa./Msgr. Bonner & Prendie) each fell behind in their counts 0-2, but worked out walks to load the bases and keep the frame alive for Miles' clutch hit down the right field line. Without those free passes, the end of the game may have unfolded much differently.
Evan Profy (Croydon, Pa./Harry S. Truman) singled in a run, and Cantwell hit a RBI ground out, in the second to increase the lead to 5-0. After that, it was all Sperone.
The senior right-hander tossed 7.2 innings, scattering 10 hits and allowing just two runs in the eighth, before giving way to
Jeb Kurtz (Douglassville, Pa./Daniel Boone) who finished up for his first save of the year. Sperone threw over 115 pitches, improving to 4-0 on the year. He walked just one and struck out six.
Kurtz threw the final 1.1 innings striking out one and yielding two hits. He induced the third double play ball of the tilt to end the contest in the top of the ninth.
Lock Haven's Garrett Starr (1-3) suffered the loss. He lasted three innings giving up five runs on five hits. Rylan Bailey came on and shut down the Golden Rams until surrendering Gifford's three-run blast in the eighth to put the game out of reach. He threw four scoreless innings in relief, but ran out of gas in the eighth.
Gifford finished the day 2-for-3 with a pair of runs scored and his fourth home run of the season. Kaleck went 2-for-4 with a pair of runs scored as well.
Corey Stouffer (Souderton, Pa./North Penn) had two hits.
Lock Haven and West Chester will conclude their weekend conference series with a doubleheader Saturday at Watkins Field in Lock Haven, Pa.
