MILLERSVILLE, Pa.- Needing a pair of wins to continue its 2023 season, the West Chester University baseball team (32-20) returned to action on Saturday afternoon at Millersville (43-8) on the third day of the NCAA Tournament. West Chester and Millersville battled throughout the afternoon, but it was a big three-run eighth inning by the Marauders, which lifted the hosts to a 6-4 victory over the Golden Rams.
David Ferguson (Downingtown, Pa./Downingtown East) got the starting nod for West Chester and worked the first three innings, scattering three runs on five hits while walking one and striking out three.
Dylan Howanitz (Archbald, Pa./Valley View) entered in relief and pitched a career-high four innings, holding the Marauders scoreless for his four complete before being charged with a pair of runs in the eighth inning, falling to 2-1 on the season. Alex Mykut pitched a clutch four innings in relief of Ben Wilchacky, who earned the starting nod and lasted just 2.2 for the Marauders. Evan Rishell picked up the win on the mound after pitching the final 2.1 innings, holding West Chester hitless in relief.
J.R. Gifford (Doylestown, Pa./Archbishop Wood) went 2-for-4 with two runs and two RBI after belting a two-run home run in the second inning, giving West Chester its first lead at the time. Kaleck also finished with a pair of hits, going 2-for-3 at the plate with a run in the season-ending setback.
West Chester threatened in the top of the first, getting
Evan Profy (Croydon, Pa./Harry S. Truman) to second after he singled to start the game and getting a single from
Joe Kaleck (Southampton, Pa./Neshaminy), but the Marauders caught both Profy and Kaleck trying to steal, thus, neutralizing the threat.
Millersville opened the scoring in the home first after a leadoff double by Jimmy Losh, which allowed him to score on a sac fly to straightaway center off the bat of Thomas Caufield, snared by Profy at the wall to avoid further damage.
In the top of the second,
Luke Cantwell (Broomall, Pa./Marple Newtown) started the frame with a single before moving to second a sac bunt by
Corey Stouffer (Souderton, Pa./North Penn). J.R. Gifford (Doylestown, Pa./Archbishop Wood) gave West Chester its first lead of the day moments later with a towering two-run home run to right field, scoring Cantwell and giving West Chester a 2-1 lead heading into the home half of the second.
Millersville responded quickly in the second with a one-out single to left by Cole Houser, followed by an RBI double off the bat of Justin Taylor, evening the score at 2-2. The double to right prompted a quick mound visit by pitching coach
John Fleming. The mound visit had its desired impact as Ferguson settled right back down, getting the second out of the inning via a swinging strikeout before getting the third out on a liner to left.
West Chester responded in the top of the third with an RBI single up the middle off the bat of
John DeMucci (Swarthmore, Pa./Msgr. Bonner & Prendie), scoring Kaleck, who had singled and advanced to second earlier in the inning. Cantwell followed up DeMucci's two-out single with a walk, which closed the book on Ben Wilchacky after 2.2 as Alex Mykut entered in relief. Mykut escaped the inning with a groundball to first, but the visiting Golden Rams held a 3-2 lead heading into the home half of the third.
Thanks to Mykut working out of further danger, Wilchacky finished with a final line of six hits and three runs (two earned) with a walk and a pair of strikeouts throughout 2.2 innings of work.
Millersville countered with a pair of singles by Losh and Bren Taylor in the home half of the third to tie things back up at 3-3 as the two teams continued to trade blows. Taylor swiped second quickly, giving the Marauders another runner in scoring position before Ferguson picked him off to give West Chester a big first out. Ferguson followed this up with a quick strikeout before working out of the inning with a lazy fly ball to center.
Gifford led off the fourth with a double to left and moved to third following a groundout to second off the bat of Costa for the first out of the inning. Thanks to a deep sac fly off the bat of
Sean Szestowicki (Mount Royal, N.J./Kingsway), Gifford scored moments later to give the Golden Rams another one-run (4-3) lead. Mykut worked out of the inning with a strikeout to keep the deficit at just one heading into the bottom of the fourth.
With a slim one-run lead,
Dylan Howanitz (Archbald, Pa./Valley View) entered in relief of Ferguson for the bottom of the fourth and pitched tremendously, logging a career-high four innings before being lifted in favor of
Julian Costa (Mantua, N.J./Clearview) who moved over from first base to try and halt the Millersville rally.
After trading runs each half inning from the bottom of the first until the top of the fourth, West Chester and Millersville both settled in nicely, working quickly and delivering shutout frames until the bottom of the eighth when Millersville found it's way back onto the scoreboard with an RBI double into the left-center gap off the bat of Jimmy Losh, which tied the score at 4-4.
This double ended the afternoon for Howanitz, who pitched tremendously, pitching a career-high four innings, allowing just two runs on two hits before exiting for Costa. Costa got his first out on a long fly ball to center off the bat of Bren Taylor; however, this also did a job for Millersville, moving Losh 90 feet closer to giving the Marauders back the lead. Caufield broke the tie with a double to left, giving Millersville a 5-4 lead with one out in the eighth. Millersville added another with a two-out single up the middle from Keegan Soltis, taking a 6-4 lead into the ninth after Costa was able to pick Soltis off at first base.
Trailing by a pair heading to the ninth, West Chester looked to its eight, nine, and one-hitters to try and spark a rally against Rishell, who had been sharp throughout the afternoon. Rishell stayed sharp in the ninth, quickly setting down the Golden Rams and lifting the Marauders to a hard-fought 6-4 victory over West Chester.
This afternoon's setback brings the 2023 season to its conclusion for West Chester, while Millersville advances to the Super Regionals, which the Marauders will host at Cooper Park next weekend vs the winner of the Seton Hill Regional pod.
