Full Poll
WEST CHESTER, Pa.- After its second 3-1 weekend in a row to open the season, the West Chester University baseball team (6-2) continued its climb up the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) poll this week as the team moved from eighth to seventh in the latest poll. West Chester started its season ninth in the coaches' poll and, after taking three-of-four from 2024 NCAA Tournament foe Charleston (W.V.), moved into eighth before moving up one more spot this week.
Tampa (13-2) retained its top spot this week, followed by Angelo State (17-3) and Texas-Tyler (17-3) in second and third, with Central Missouri (11-3) and Florida Southern (14-2) close behind in fourth and fifth. The 2023 National Champion, North Greenville (16-3), is sixth, followed by West Chester (6-2), Point Loma (14-4), Southern New Hampshire (4-2), and Catawba (13-5) to round out the top-10.
West Chester is one of four PSAC teams in the top-30 once again as Millersville (5-1) is 17
th with Seton Hill (6-2) in 26
th and East Stroudsburg (10-0) rounding out the top-30 in 30
th.
Headlined by a
Julian Costa (Mantua, N.J./Clearview) no-hitter, which was the Golden Rams' first since 1947, on Friday afternoon, West Chester went 3-1 on the weekend, splitting a doubleheader with St. Thomas Aquinas on Friday before downing Wheeling on Saturday and Pace on Sunday. West Chester opened its weekend with a 6-0 victory in game one on Friday before dropping the nightcap by a 4-3 final. The Golden Rams bats roared to life over the weekend as the team topped Wheeling 14-4 and Pace 14-3, outscoring opponents 37-11 on the weekend and 71-21 through the season's first eight games. Costa,
Kyle Lazer (Havertown, Pa./Msgr. Bonner & Prendie), and Kyle Kearns (West Chester, Pa./Rustin) all improved to 2-0 on the mound this weekend, and all three show a sub-1.00 ERA through their first two starts of the season. Costa leads the staff in strikeouts with 15 after striking out nine during his no-hitter, while also lowering his WHIP to 0.50 and batting-average against to .125. Kearns is 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA and a .219 batting average against with seven strikeouts in 10 innings of work, while Lazer is 2-0 with a 0.82 ERA, a 1.18 WHIP and a .243 batting-average against with nine strikeouts in 11 innings.
Offensively,
Sean Szestowicki (Mount Royal, N.J./Kingsway) led the team last weekend, batting .500 with eight hits, including a double, triple, and home run, along with five runs scored and six RBI. Batting .419, Szestowicki leads the team in hits with 13 and has scored eight runs, while driving in 10, which is tied for first with
John Dunion (Wilmington, Del./Salesianum) who is second in batting average (.333), while leading in home runs after hitting a pair over the weekend.
Ben Bolhouse (Chadds Ford, Pa./Kennett) and
Avery Spencer (Pottsgrove, Pa./Pottsgrove) are tied for second and fourth on the team in batting average, batting .333 and .321 on the year with nine and six hits each. Bolhouse is second in RBI with eight, while Spencer is tied for second in runs scored with eight of his own.
Casey Vaughan (Springfield, Pa./Springfield) leads the team in runs scored with 11.
Up Next:
West Chester heads to New York this weekend for a pair of doubleheaders against Pace on Friday at 1 p.m. before visiting Mercy on Saturday for a doubleheader at Noon.
