CARY, N.C.- The No. 8/10 West Chester University baseball team (6-2) was back in action on Sunday morning for its final game of its trip to the USA Baseball National Training complex against non-league foe Pace (3-3). West Chester jumped out to an early 8-0 lead and rode this advantage to a dominant 14-3 victory to return home with another successful 3-1 weekend.
Kyle Kearns (West Chester, Pa./Rustin) improved to 2-0 on the mound with six strong innings of work, which saw him allow just one unearned run on five hits and three walks, while striking out three.
Danny Carr (Paoli, Pa./Great Valley), Jesse Specter (Moorestown, N.J./Moorestown), and Brody Minder (Marlton, N.J./Cherokee) all worked an inning in relief, Carr and Specter allowed one run each before Minder worked a scoreless ninth.
After a scoreless first inning and a half, West Chester scored eight runs on five hits and an error in the second inning, including a two-RBI single to left by
Patrick Gozdan (Warminster, Pa/.Archbishop Wood), an RBI single by
Avery Spencer (Pottsgrove, Pa./Pottsgrove), and a two-RBI double by
Ben Bolhouse (Chadds Ford, Pa./Kennett), while also using crafty base running to build an early eight-run lead.
West Chester added a run in the fifth on a throwing error and added another in the sixth when
John Dunion (Wilmington, Del./Salesianum) singled home Spencer to give West Chester a 10-1 lead heading into the seventh.
Pace cut the Golden Ram lead to 10-2 in the seventh with an RBI double before a
Sean Szestowicki (Mount Royal, N.J./Kingsway) triple stretched the lead back to 11-2 heading into the eighth.
In the eighth, Pace got another ring back with another RBI single before West Chester scored three more in the eighth courtesy of RBI singles from Szestowicki,
Mark Elliot (Somers Point, N.J./Mainland Regional), and a fielding error by the Setters left fielder on a fly ball off the bat of
Casey Vaughan (Springfield, Pa./Springfield).
Cristian Rodriguez (1-1) got the start and suffered the loss, allowing eight runs (two earned) on five hits, and two wallks, while striking out a pair as one of four pitchers used on Sunday afternoon. Anthony Apollaro worked 3.1 innings in relief and allowed just one unearned run one on one hit and six walks, while striking out a pair.
Spencer was 3-for-5 with an RBI and two runs scored, while Szestowicki was 2-for-4 with a run scored and a pair of RBI as two of four Golden Rams with two-RBI in the victory.
Up Next:
West Chester will be back in action next Friday at Pace for a doubleheader against the Setters beginning at 1 p.m. before playing a doubleheader vs Mercy on Saturday beginning at 12 p.m.
