SLIPPERY ROCK, PA – West Chester University's baseball squad earned the No. 2 seed in the East in the upcoming Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) postseason baseball tournament and will take on the No. 3 seed in the West, Mercyhurst on Wednesday at 4:30 p.m.
Tickets to the 2024 PSAC Baseball Tournament can be purchased
ONLINE ONLY at this
LINK when the link goes live
. Prices are $15 for adults and $7 for students the first two days of the tournament. Prices are $10 and $5, respectively, for days three and four of the tournament.
All games will be played at Jack Critchfield Park on the campus of Slippery Rock University. Directions to the university and the baseball field, as well as all other tournament information, can be found on the
PSAC's Tournament Central Page.
Wednesday's four first-round contests are single-elimination. The remainder of the tournament the rest of the week will be double-elimination.
It marks the third consecutive year in which West Chester and Mercyhurst will face one another in the first-round elimination game. Mercyhurst won in 2022 while West Chester won last year's encounter. Overall, West Chester is 4-4 against Mercyhurst in the PSAC Tournament.
This week will be the Golden Rams' 20th appearance in the conference tournament and 12th straight. They have won the title eight times previously (1959, 1962, 1964, 1983, 1985, 2009, 2012, 2016) but are looking for their first title since 2016. West Chester reached the championship game a year ago before falling to Seton Hill. West Chester is 32-26 all-time in the PSAC Tournament.
West Chester (39-7) is coming off a four-game sweep over Millersville to close out the regular season. Entering the final two weekends of the conference slate, the Golden Rams had to play the top two teams in the Eastern Division in East Stroudsburg and Millersville. West Chester went 7-1 in those eight games and overtook the Marauders to finish second in the final regular-season standings. The Golden Rams' 39 wins in the regular season tied the school record set by the 2009 club.
Mercyhurst (21-19) dropped its final three games of the season to IUP and as a result fell to the No. 3 seed in favor of the Crimson Hawks, who took three of four in the series with the Lakers to close out the slate.
West Chester and Mercyhurst met earlier this year in Cary, N.C. The Golden Rams came away with a 5-4 victory in that encounter at the DII Baseball Challenge. West Chester scored a run in both the fifth and sixth innings to come from behind for the win.
Drew Simpson (Hockessin, Del./Delaware Military Academy) got the win in relief.
Kyle Lazer (Havertown, Pa./Msgr. Bonner & Prendie) earned the save pitching the ninth.
This year's Purple & Gold squad leads the PSAC in hitting with a team batting average of .330. In fact, the Golden Rams lead the league in seven offensive categories, including hits (455), runs (370) and RBI (322). Mercyhurst ranks fifth in batting (.300). Defensively, West Chester's pitching ranks fifth in the PSAC with a 4.03 while Mercyhurst's ranks seventh (4.81).
The West Chester vs. Mercyhurst winner will play the winner of Seton Hill vs. Shippensburg on Thursday at 1:30 p.m.
