SLIPPERY ROCK, PA – West Chester scored three runs in the top of the ninth to tie the game, and then pushed one across in the 10th on a bases-loaded walk to take an 8-7 decision against Mercyhurst in the opening round of the 2023 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Tournament at Jack Critchfield Park.
West Chester (29-16) advanced to the second round of the tournament while Mercyhurst (28-15) was eliminated. The first four games today were all single-elimination with the losing team going home. The rest of the tournament moves to a double-elimination format.
Luke Cantwell (Broomall, Pa./Marple Newtown) singled to left with two outs in West Chester's final at bats to drive home
Joe Kaleck (Southampton, Pa./Neshaminy) from second with the game-tying run. Kaleck later walked on four pitches with the bases loaded in the top of the 10th to push across the game-winning run. The Golden Rams scored four of their eight runs in their last two at bats.
West Chester took its first lead of the game in the fourth when Kaleck was hit by a pitch and Cantwell hit a two-run homer two batters later to make it a 2-1 game. Single tallies in the fifth and sixth increased the Golden Rams' lead to 4-1. However, the Lakers finally got to starter
Julian Costa (Mantua, N.J./Clearview) in the fifth with a five-spot to take a 6-4 lead. Mercyhurst tacked on one more in the eighth and took a 7-4 advantage into the ninth.
Cantwell finished 2-for-5 with three RBI.
Zack Miles (Hatfield, Pa./North Penn) went 3-for-4, and
Sean Szestowicki (Mount Royal, N.J./Kingsway Regional) scored three runs. Kaleck was officially 0-for-2 at the plate. But, he scored two runs and knocked in two more.
Dylan Howanitz (Archbald, Pa./Valley View) got West Chester out of the sixth and pitched the seventh.
David Ferguson (Downingtown, Pa./Downingtown East) threw the final three innings to pick up his sixth win of the season and improve to 6-3.
It is exactly four years to the day since West Chester's last PSAC Tournament victory (May 10, 2019). There was no tournament held in 2020. Third-year head coach
Mike LaRosa picked up his first tournament win since taking over in 2021.
West Chester will take on Indiana (Pa.) Thursday at 1:30 p.m. The Crimson Hawks defeated Millersville, 8-1, in the final game of the day Wednesday. West Chester was the only team from the Eastern Division to have advanced on Day 1. California (Pa.) beat East Stroudsburg, 2-1, in extra innings, and Seton Hill downed Shippensburg, 12-1.
