West Chester at Pace
Game Details: March 7 I 1 P.M.
Location: Peter X. Finnerty Field (Pleasantville, N.Y.)
Series: 16-10 (W4)
Coverage Links: Live Stats I Watch ($)
WCU Links: NEWS I ROSTER I SCHEDULE I STATS
Pace Links: NEWS I ROSTER I SCHEDULE I STATS
West Chester at Mercy
Game Details: March 8 I 12 P.M.
Location: Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.
Series: 1-0
Coverage Links: Live Stats I Watch
Mercy Links: NEWS I ROSTER I SCHEDULE I STATS
Last Time Out
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. Sean Szestowicki (Mount Royal, N.J./Kingsway), Avery Spencer (Pottsgrove, Pa./Pottsgrove), John Dunion (Wilmington, Del./Salesianum), and Ben Bolhouse (Chadds Ford, Pa./Kennett) all batted north of .300 for the weekend this past week, led by a .500 (8-for-16) effort from Szestowicki. Spencer was 7-for-16 (.438) at the plate, while Dunion was 4-for-12 (.333) with two home runs, and Bolhouse was 4-for-13 (.308) on the week.
Flock Talk
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, Szestowickiled 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 Dunion, who is second in batting average (.333) while leading in home runs after hitting a pair over the weekend. Bolhouse and Spencer 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.
Power Surge
West Chester has outscored its opponents 71-21 through the first two weekends of the season, outscoring Charleston 34-10 in Virginia to open the season before outscoring teams in North Carolina by a 37-11 margin.
Road Warriors
West Chester remains on the road this week with a trip to New York before opening its home slate next Wednesday with a single-game against Wilmington at 3 p.m. before a four-game weekend set vs Queens on March 14 and 15.
What an Outing
Costa, who was named the PSAC East and National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Atlantic Region and National Pitcher of the Week, tossed a seven-inning no-hitter on Friday in a 6-0 victory over St. Thomas Aquinas. Costa was one batter shy of a perfect game as he allowed his lone runner of the night with two outs in the seventh when he surrendered a walk. The lefty struck out nine and became the first WCU pitcher since Nicholas Frank in 1947 to throw a no-hitter.
Rank and File
West Chester climbed to seventh in the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) Division II poll after going 3-1 and outscoring opponents 37-11 last weekend during its second trip south. West Chester is also ranked 15th in the NCBWA Poll.
Time to Prepare
With Lock Haven’s move to the PSAC West, West Chester will not open PSAC East play until the weekend of March 21-22 against East Stroudsburg. West Chester will start off at home against ESU on Friday, March 21, before visiting the Warriors on Saturday, the 22nd. Prior to this, West Chester will play non-league doubleheaders at Pace and Mercy on March 7 and 8, and a home weekend set against Queens will begin on Friday, March 14, and conclude on Saturday, the 15th.
Series History
West Chester is 16-10 vs Pace, including wins in each of its last four meetings against the Setters, which includes the 14-3 victory a week ago and a 15-3 win in a neutral-site game in Philadelphia during the 2022 season.
West Chester is 1-0 vs Mercy, with a win in its first and only meeting to date in February 2008 by a 7-1 final.
Scouting Pace
West Chester will face Pace for the second and third games of an usual split three-game series against the Setters. West Chester faced Pace for the first time this season in Cary, North Carolina, last weekend, cruising past the Setters by a 14-3 final. This Sunday morning victory concluded a four-game weekend for Pace in North Carolina as the Setters opened the weekend with an 11-0 victory over D’Youville on Friday afternoon before dropping a doubleheader to the Saints on Saturday by 7-0 and 1-0 finals.
Entering play at 6-6 on the year, Pace is led offensively by Andrew Heppner, Dominic Rivera, and Luke Rivara as the trio bats north of .350 on the year, with Heppner leading the team in hits (seven), runs (six), extra base hits (three), home runs (two), and RBI (eight). On the mound, Vincent Civitella has been hard to crack this season, going 2-0 in his first two starts with four hits allowed against 13 strikeouts over the course of eight innings pitched. He has a 0.00 ERA, a 1.00 WHIP, and a .160 batting average against him, while Ryan Degnan is 1-1 with a 1.50 ERA, 1.33 WHIP, and a .333 batting average against him after allowing one run on five hits in four innings of relief against D’Youville last Saturday.
Scouting Mercy
Mercy enters the weekend at 7-5 on the year after falling To Southern Connecticut State at home on Tuesday by a 3-1 final to halt a two-game winning streak. Still, the Mavericks enter play winners of five of seven, including a doubleheader sweep of Adelphi in Myrtle Beach in late February. Against SCSU, the Owls jumped out to an early 2-0 lead with a two-RBI double down the left field line and added to its lead with an RBI single in the seventh to make it a 3-0 advantage. Mercy mounted a ninth-inning comeback and got one run back, but this was as close as the Mavericks were able to get in the 3-1 setback. Nevin Scaperotti (0-3) was a tough-luck loser for Mercy on Tuesday evening as he surrendered just two runs on three hits and three walks while striking out six, but it was not enough to earn his first win of the season.
Zach Ashline leads Mercy in a host of offensive categories, including batting average (.417; 15-of-36), RBI (12), extra-base hits (eight), and home runs (three). Kyle Engman, who is batting .368 on the year is tied for first on the team in home runs with three, while his eight RBI is third best on the squad trailing Ashline and John Nisco who is tied for first on the team in runs scored 13. Nisco bats .311 on the year and is the final of five Mercy players to bat north of .300 on the season. On the mound, Diego Wirz is 2-0 with a 1.29 ERA and a .152 batting average against, holding opponents to just two runs on seven hits, while striking out nine in 14.0 innings of work. Scaperrotti is a deceptive 0-3 on the year with a 3.09 ERA and a .192 batting average against with a staff-best 19 strikeouts in 23.1 innings of work.
