DOBBS FERRY, N.Y.- After a dominant split at Pace on Friday, which ran its early-season winning streak to four in a row, the No. 7/15 West Chester University baseball team (9-3) saw its an early run halted on Saturday at Mercy, splitting a doubleheader with the Mavericks to finish the weekend 3-1. West Chester started the day with a 6-5 victory over Mercy in a game that was not as close as the final score may indicate before finding itself down 7-1 after the first inning in the nightcap in a 10-6 setback.
Game One: WCU 6 Mercy 5
WP: Lazer (3-0)
LP: Wirz (2-1)
Kyle Lazer (Havertown, Pa./Msgr. Bonner & Prendie) got the start and earned his third victory with six outstanding innings, allowing just one unearned run on four hits, while walking one and striking out 14.
Ben Jones (Coatesville, Pa./Coatesville) entered in relief and allowed four runs on four hits and a walk but escaped with a strikeout and a soft ground ball back to the mound to hold on for the 6-5 victory.
Jake Welsch (Glenmoore, Pa./Downingtown East) opened the scoring with a leadoff home run to left before the Mavericks tied the game at 1-1 on a passed ball in the home half of the first.
With the score tied 1-1 heading into the fourth, West Chester scored three runs to take a 4-1 lead, plating two on a two-RBI single from
Ben Bolhouse (Chadds Ford, Pa./Kennett) before adding another on a sac fly from
Caleb Strawhecker (West Grove, Pa./Avon Grove) to take a three-run lead.
Welsch (2-for-3, 2 RBI, 1 Run, 1 BB) continued his big game with an RBI double down the left field line for his second Rbi of the afternoon, before an
Austin Stalker (Wyncombe, Pa./Council Rock North) single in the seventh made it a 6-1 Golden Ram lead.
Mercy started its seventh-inning rally with a one-out single down the right field line before an RBI double made the score 6-2 and kept two runners on with just one out. The very next Maverick batter delivered a three-run home run to left, which cut the deficit to 6-5. A single followed this to put the tying run on base with two outs to get. Jones settled down and got a huge second out on a swinging strikeout before escaping on a ground ball back to the mound to finish the 6-5 victory.
Diego Wirz took the loss to fall to 2-1 on the year after allowing four runs on four hits and a walk, while striking out two. Gordon Vortuba appeared in relief and had similar luck, allowing two runs (one earned) on two hits and four walks in 3.2 innings of work against the Golden Rams.
Game Two: Mercy 10 WCU 6
WP: Manzoeillo (3-1)
LP: Kearns (2-1)
S: Gil (4)
In the nightcap, West Chester took an early 1-0 courtesy of an RBI triple by
Anthony Boccio (Coatesville, Pa./Coatesville) in his first doubleheader back of the 2025 season.
In the home first,
Kyle Kearns (West Chester, Pa./Rustin) was only able to record one out as the Mavericks exploded for seven runs on five hits and three walks before he was lifted for
Nick Noga (Avondale, Pa./Avon Grove). Noga officially entered when West Chester was trailing 6-0 and allowed an inherited runner to score on a sac fly on the first batter he faced before escaping the inning with out any further damage.
West Chester got a run back in the top of the second when Bolhouse scored on a wild pitch before Mercy answered with two runs in the home half to take a 9-2 lead.
Boccio picked up his second RBI of the game in the third inning, hitting a two-out single into right center to score
Casey Vaughan (Springfield, Pa./Springfield) before scoring on a two-out single from
Avery Spencer (Pottsgrove, Pa./Pottsgrove) to make the score 9-4. Mercy got one of these two runs back in the home half with an RBI single of its own to take a 10-4 lead into the fourth.
Bolhouse scored on another wild pitch in the fourth as the Golden Rams continued their comeback bid. West Chester continued to threaten through the fifth and sixth innings, but this was the last run the Golden Rams would plate until a two-out balk in the seventh inning scored Stalker and cut the deficit to 10-6. West Chester continued to threaten after this balk, but the Mavericks escaped without any further damage to earn an important split vs the seventh-ranked Golden Rams.
Noga was sharp in relief of Kearns, pitching 4.2 allowing three runs on eight hits, while striking out seven.
Patrick Taney (Cherry Hill, N.J./Cherry Hill West) worked a scoreless sixth, allowing just one walk, while recording all three outs by way of a strikeout.
Senior Matthew Manzoeillo was sharp for Mercy to improve to 3-1 on the year, allowing just four runs on eight hits with one walk and three strikeouts in four innings of work. Junior Samuel Gil picked up the four-out save, his fourth of the year, allowing just one run on two walks in the victory.
Welsch was 3-for-4 with a double in the setback, while Boccio was 2-for-4 with two RBI, including his early RBI triple, which opened the scoring in the four-run loss.
Up Next
At long last, West Chester will return home next week for five games over the course of three days as the team will play its home
opener on Wednesday against Wilmington at 3 p.m. before hosting a four-game weekend series vs Queens (N.Y.) with doubleheaders on Friday and Saturday at Serpico Stadium.
