West Chester at Molloy
Game Details: April 2 I 3 P.M.
Location: Mitchel Field Athletic Complex (Uniondale, N.Y.)
Coverage Links: Live Stats I Watch
Series: 6-0
WCU Links: NEWS I ROSTER I SCHEDULE I STATS
Molloy Links: NEWS I ROSTER I SCHEDULE I STATS
Last Time Out
West Chester posted its first PSAC East sweep of the year last week, taking four games from Kutztown with 11-0 and 3-2 victories at home to start the series before winning 12-2 and 9-7 on the road on Saturday afternoon. Julian Costa, Kyle Lazer, and Nick Noga all earned victories in their starts, while Jesse Specter picked up his first win of the season in relief on Saturday afternoon, while Patrick Taney recorded his first save of the year in the 9-7 victory. Costa and Lazer both turned in shutout performances in six and five innings of work with eight and seven strikeouts, holding opponents to .105 and .063 batting averages in their starts. Casey Vaughan and Austin Stalker were red hot at the plate on the weekend, batting .583 and .500 with seven and six hits, respectively. Stalker hit the lone home run of the weekend and drove in a team-best seven runs with a 1.083 slugging percentage and a 1.683 OPS, while Vaughan scored a team-high seven runs.
Flock Talk
Sean Szestowicki and Casey Vaughan continue to rank first and second on the team in batting average at .366 and .349 on the year with 34 and 29 hits, respectively. Caughan leads the team in runs scored with 32 after scoring seven more over the weekend, while Ben Bolhouse is first on the team in RBI with 27. Austin Stalker is batting .304 this year but has an outstanding 1.014 OPS with a team-best four home runs for 24 RBI in the young season.
On the mound, Lazer and Costa are tied for first on the team in wins at 6-0 and 6-1 with ERAs of 0.79 and 2.65 along with opponent batting averages below .200 (.193 and .185, respectively). Danny Carr is 1-0 with a 0.00 ERA and a .250 opponent batting average in five appearances with one start, while Patrick Taney has shown himself to be a great bullpen arm for West Chester going 1-0 with a 0.84 ERA and .133 opponents batting average in eight appearances (10.2 innings of work).
Heating Back Up
After dropping two games at East Stroudsburg on March 22, the West Chester University baseball team has caught fire once again, winning each of the last seven games, outscoring teams 48-19 during that stretch, including 11-0 and 12-2 victories over Kutztown over the weekend.
Pitching Plaudits
This week was the first time in a month that West Chester has not won PSAC East Pitcher of the Week honors as Julian Costa, Nick Noga, Kyle Lazer, and Ryan DeHaven had won the award each of the previous four weeks.
Rank and File
West Chester climbed to 10th in the latest American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) rankings released on Tuesday afternoon. The latest NCBWA rankings are due to be released tomorrow.
Series History
West Chester renews acquaintances with Molloy this week after improving to a perfect 6-0 vs the Lions in West Chester earlier this season. In the first meeting, West Chester carried a 3-1 lead into the ninth behind eight standout innings from DeHaven but needed a ninth-inning double by Jake Welsch to escape with the 4-3 victory. Vaughan was 2-for-4 at the plate in this win as one of six Golden Rams to record a hit in the victory.
Scouting Molloy
Molloy enters play on Wednesday after splitting a weekend series with Mercy, capturing the first two games of the series with 8-6 and 10-9 victories before dropping the last two games by 8-6 and 5-4 (12 innings) finals. Patrick Sanchez, Sean Welsh, and Aidan Larkin continue to rank first, second, and third on the team in batting average at .395, .373, and .370, respectively, while Welsh leads the team in home runs with eight. Welsh has scored a team-best 34 runs this season while also driving in 25 runs.
On the mound, James Sill and JC Kiss are first and second on the team in wins at 4-0 and 3-1 on the season with ERAs of 1.10 and 6.15 along with opponent batting averages of .176 and .300. Sill has one complete game shutout to his name this season along with a staff-best 46 strikeouts in 41.0 innings of work.
