CARY, N.C.- The West Chester University baseball team (4-1) returned to action on Saturday morning for a doubleheader against Wilmington (5-2) in Cary, North Carolina, at the USA Baseball National Training Complex. After dropping game one by a 5-4 final with a late-game comeback falling short, West Chester bounced back in game two for a 13-2 win to split the doubleheader with the Wildcats.
Game One: Wilmington 5 West Chester 4
WP: Chase Fleming (1-0)
LP: Kyle Rogers (0-1)
S: Garrett Quinn (1)
Wilmington jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the second inning and added a run in the fourth to take a commanding 5-0 lead heading into the fifth inning.
After a scoreless fifth, West Chester got four runs back in the sixth as
Carter Rust (Liberty Township, Ohio/Lakota West) doubled home the first Golden Ram run of the game before scoring on a three-run home run off the bat of
Drew Simpson (Hockessin, Del./DMA) two batters later.
Unfortunately, this was as close as West Chester could get, as Zach Czarnecki escaped the inning without any further damage and Garrett Quinn worked a 1,2,3 seventh to help Chase Fleming, who had pitched the first five-plus innings, allowing two runs on three hits and a walk, while striking out seven, earn his first win of the year.
Kyle Rogers (Clifton, N.J./Clifton) suffered his first loss as a Golden Ram, allowing five runs (four earned) on eight hits, while striking out two.
Trey Stricker (Reading, Pa./Berks Catholic) made his Golden Ram debut and pitched two scoreless innings in relief, notching two strikeouts in the process.
Game Two: WCU 13 Wilmington 2
WP: Kyle Lazer (1-0)
LP: Brody Gebhard (1-1)
Wilmington scored the first run of the game via a sac fly in the second inning before
Harry Middlebrooks (Bel Air, Md./Archbishop Curley) tied things up with an RBI groundout in the third.
Patrick Gozdan (Warminster, Pa./Archbishop Wood) drove home the next three runs for West Chester over the course of the fourth and fifth with an RBI single and an RBI double before scoring a run of his own on an RBI single by Rust, who later scored on a double by
Caleb Strawhecker (West Grove, Pa./Avon Grove). West Chester kept the line moving with an RBI double by
Hunter Smith (Martinsburg, Pa./Central), which scored Strawhecker before
Austin Stalker (Wycombe, Pa./Council Rock North) plated Smith with an RBI single to give West Chester a commanding 8-1 lead.
West Chester stretched its lead to 13-1 in the sixth, taking advantage of a handful of Wildcats defensive miscues, including a fielding error, catcher's interference, and a wild pitch, along with an RBI fielder's choice from Gozdan, another RBI single by Rust, and a sac fly from Middlebrooks to take a 13-1 lead into the seventh.
Wilmington got a run back in the seventh with a solo shot to left to start the inning before
Nick Parrotto (Mars, Pa./Seneca Valley) settled in and worked out of his first inning as a Golden Ram without any further damage to finish off a 13-2 run.
Luke Raho (Johnstown, Pa./Richland) got the start for West Chester and allowed one run on four hits and a walk, while striking out two.
Kyle Lazer (Havertown, Pa./Msgr. Bonner & Prendie) shook off a rocky season debut last Friday and earned his first win of the season with two scoreless innings in relief, scattering just two hits and a walk, while fanning three.
Brody Gebhard was one of eight Wildcat pitchers to take the mound in game two and suffered the loss, allowing two runs on three hits and two walks, while striking out two in 3.1 innings of work.
Up Next
West Chester will conclude its trip south tomorrow against Dominican, beginning at 9 a.m.
