WEST CHESTER, Pa.- The No. 22 West Chester University baseball team (32-13, 14-10) is preparing for its final weekend series of the year against Mansfield (13-28, 7-17) beginning on Thursday afternoon in Mansfield. West Chester will visit Mansfield for a doubleheader on Thursday before hosting the Mounties on Friday, on what will be both Senior Day and Alumni Day for West Chester ahead of the PSAC Tournament at Millersville next week.
West Chester vs Mansfield
Series Details
Game 1 & 2: Thursday, May 1 @ Mansfield (Joseph Shaute Field)
Game 3 & 4: Friday, May 2 @ West Chester (Serpico Stadium)
Coverage Links
Thursday: Live Stats I
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Friday: Live Stats I
Video
Series since 1997: 69-41 (W8)
WCU Links: NEWS I
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SCHEDULE I
STATS
Mansfield Links: NEWS I
ROSTER I
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STATS
Last Time Out
West Chester was in action last weekend vs No. 10 Millersville as the Golden Rams lost their first series of the year and suffered their first home sweep since March 2024 as the Marauders took three of four from the Golden Rams. Millersville claimed both ends of the doubleheader on Friday in West Chester, winning game one by a 10-7 final and game two by an 8-5 final. West Chester picked up a split at Millersville on Saturday, winning game two 4-3 in eight innings before dropping the series finale by a 10-6 final.
Kyle Lazer was the lone Golden Ram pitcher to record a win over the weekend as the redshirt junior pitched eight strong innings, allowing three runs on five hits and two walks while striking out six in the longest outing of his collegiate career.
Avery Spencer and
Austin Stalker led the way offensively for West Chester, batting .462 and .357 with six and five hits each, while Stalker led the team in RBI with three.
Jake Welsch tied for the team lead in runs scored with three, while leading the team in extra-base hits with three doubles and a home run.
Flock Talk
Sean Szestowicki continues to lead the squad offensively, batting .363 (57-for-157) with 17 extra-base hits, including 11 doubles, two triples, and four home runs for 38 RBI and 38 runs scored.
Austin Stalker leads the team in home runs with five and is batting .326 on the year with 45 hits, which is tied with runs leader
Casey Vaughan for third on the squad, as he has scored 43 runs already this season.
Anthony Boccio is batting .319 on the year with 37 hits, including a team-high five triples in his final season as a Golden Ram.
On the mound,
Kyle Lazer and
Julian Costa remain first and second in the rotation in most categories as Lazer has a 2.83 ERA with a record of 7-2 and a .242 opponents' batting average, while Costa is 8-3 with a 4.17 ERA and a .234 opponents' batting average. Following his eight-inning win at Millersville, Lazer is once again first on the staff in strikeouts with 61 in 57.1 innings, while Costa is close behind with 53 in 54.0 innings of work. The combination of
Ryan DeHaven,
Kyle Kearns, and
Nick Noga make up the remainder of the Golden Ram weekend rotation, entering play at 4-1, 2-2, and 5-3 with ERAs of 4.71, 4.81, and 6.38 in 36.1, 33.2, and 42.1 innings of work this season.
Rank and File
West Chester slipped out of the top 25 of the American Baseball Coaches Association rankings this week, sliding to 27
th in Division II, although the Golden Rams remain in the top-25 of the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) rankings at 22
nd in that poll. The Golden Rams were also ranked second in the second of three NCAA Division II Atlantic Regional rankings released on Wednesday afternoon.
Gearing Up
This weekend's series is the final series of the regular season as the Golden Rams prepare for the PSAC Tournament in Millersville next week and the beginning of the NCAA Tournament the following week.
Thank You Seniors
Following Friday's doubleheader, West Chester will pause to honor its senior class, which includes
Darius Troche,
Gannon Kadlecik,
Avery Spencer,
Joey Cicini,
Shane Adamski,
Casey Vaughan,
David Ferguson,
Anthony Boccio,
Sean Szestowicki, and
Jake Welsch.
Welcome Home!
In addition to senior day, Friday will also be Alumni Day for the Golden Rams as head coach
Mike LaRosa and the West Chester University baseball team are proud to welcome Golden Ram alumni back for the final doubleheader of the regular season.
Series History
Since 1997, West Chester is 69-41 against Mansfield, riding an eight-game winning streak against the Mountaineers with sweeps in each of the last two seasons. West Chester has not lost to Mansfield since an 8-5 loss in Corning, New York, in March of the 2022 season, and has not lost to the Mounties in West Chester since March 2019.
Scouting Mansfield
Mansfield heads into the weekend in the midst of a five-game losing streak after being swept by Bloomsburg last weekend. The Mounties dropped the first two games of the series at Bloomsburg on Friday by 19-7 and 5-1 finals before falling at home by 10-3 and 12-4 finals in front of a senior day crowd.
Jacob Houtz leads the Mounties offensively, batting .451 (55-for-122) on the year with 15 doubles and 13 home runs for 45 RBI and 44 runs scored. Houtz has a 1.464 OPS, thanks in large part to a stellar .893 slugging percentage. Cole Serfass, Ryan Scott, Ryan Sekulski, and Shane Stossel also bat north of .300 on the year, batting .360, .333, .323, and .308, respectively.
On the mound, Austin Lewis and Garrett Emerick are 3-3 and 3-5 on the year with ERAs of 6.70 and 9.94, along with opponent batting averages of .308 and .347. Stossel and Tyler Swineford have also been regular members of the Mountie weekend rotation, pitching to records of 1-4 and 1-6 with ERAs of 8.24 and 12.15, respectively.
Up Next
West Chester will get the PSAC Tournament underway in Millersville next week as play begins next Wednesday. If the PSAC Tournament began today, West Chester would be the third seed and would begin its Tournament against California (Pa.) at approximately 4:30 p.m. Shippensburg has closed the gap between third and fourth to just two games and split the season series against West Chester earlier this season. Should the Golden Rams stumble this weekend, they could drop to the fourth seed and find themselves playing in the 1 p.m. game against the top seed from the PSAC West.
