WEST CHESTER, Pa.- The No. 27/23 West Chester University baseball team (8-2) is set for its first midweek test of the young season on Wednesday as the team will visit Division I foe St. Josephs (5-8) on Wednesday afternoon beginning at 3 p.m. Wednesday's game will be West Chester's first against a Division I opponent since March 2019 when the Golden Rams faced Delaware.
West Chester at Saint Joseph's
Game Details: Wednesday, March 11 I 3 P.M.
Location: Smithson Field (Philadelphia, Pa.)
Series: 10-13
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Last Time Out
West Chester was back in action last weekend at Joe Canon Stadium in Hanover, Maryland, winning three of four against Frostburg State to win the series over the Bobcats. West Chester held Frostburg State to just two hits in the doubleheader sweep on Saturday night, outscoring its hosts 11-0 in the two games, led by a no-hitter from
Julian Costa (Mantua, N.J./Clearview) and a complete game shutout by
Luke Raho (Johnstown, Pa./Richland) in the nightcap. On Sunday, West Chester dropped game one by a 5-0 final despite a late-game rally, which saw the team load the bases in the seventh. In the series finale, West Chester exploded offensively, scoring 11 runs on eight hits and getting an excellent pitching performance from
Kyle Rogers (Clifton, N.J./Clifton) with seven strikeouts over six shutout innings to finish off the weekend series.
In two games,
Chase Jones (Hatfield, Pa./North Penn) led the team in hits with five as he was 5-for-6 (.833) at the plate with four RBI and a run along with two walks, while
Christian Michak (Kingston, Pa./Wyoming Valley West) led players, who played in all four games this weekend as he was 4-for-8 (.500) at the plate with three doubles and a triple, scoring four runs and driving in four more as he posted a 1.125 slugging percentage and a .714 on-base percentage.
Flock Talk
Michak enters the new week batting .429 (9-for-21) with three doubles and a triple for nine runs and five RBI, along with a 1.267 OPS, which is the best on the team.
Caleb Strawhecker (West Grove, Pa./Avon Grove) leads the team in runs scored with 13 as he is 10-for-27 (.370) at the dish with two doubles and a home run for six RBI.
Austin Stalker (Wycombe, Pa./Council Rock North) leads the team in RBI with 10 as he bats .333 (11-for-33) with three doubles and two triples, scoring nine runs along with the 10 that he has plated.
On the mound, Costa is off to a phenomenal start to his final season as a Golden Ram as he is 3-0 with a 1.50 ERA and a .72 WHIP with three wins in three starts, including his no-hitter on Saturday night in Maryland. Costa holds opponents to a .129 batting average against and has 18 strikeouts in 18 innings of work. Raho earned his first win of the season with a complete-game shutout on Saturday night, but is enjoying an excellent start to the year as well, posting a .69 ERA, .62 WHIP, and a .156 batting average against with 13 strikeouts against just seven hits in 13 innings of work. The Golden Ram bullpen has been excellent as well, with a host of shutout performances so far this season, with
Trey Stricker (Reading, Pa./Berks Catholic) leading the pack in shutout innings out of the pen with three. Stricker has yet to allow a hit in his first three collegiate innings, yielding just one baserunner via a walk on Sunday, while striking out four.
Landen Rozich (Oxford, Pa./Oxford) came through for West Chester in a massive spot in his collegiate debut on opening day, and is 2-0 in three appearances with a 1.80 ERA and nine strikeouts against seven hits in five innings of work.
He's Done It Again
Costa earned PSAC East Pitcher of the Week honors this week and deservedly so after twirling his second career no-hitter as he allowed just three hits and struck out eight in a dominant seven-inning performance. Costa flirted with perfection through five innings but allowed his first walk in the sixth and two more to leadoff the seventh before working around the early runners to preserve his no-hitter. The senior lefty became the first Golden Ram pitcher since Nicholas Frank in 1947 to throw a no-hitter when he did so against St. Thomas Aquinas last spring and became the first pitcher in team history to throw two in their career with his no-no on Saturday night.
Early Season Test
Wednesday's game is a rare Division I opportunity for West Chester in its spring season and is the team's first game against a Division I foe since a 2019 clash at Delaware, which West Chester dropped by a 5-4 final in head coach Jad Prachniak's final full season at the helm after the 2020 season was shortened due to COVID-19.
Rank and File
West Cheser appeared in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Poll at 23rd last week and returned to the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) poll this week in 27
th.
Series History
West Chester is 10-13 against St. Joseph's since 1982, but has not faced the Hawks since March 1997, when the team left Hawk Hill with a 6-4 victory to halt a three-game losing streak. West Chester has not won two or more consecutive games against St. Joseph's since a series sweep at home in 1992, which saw WCU outscore SJU 16-5.
Scouting St. Joseph's
St. Joseph's enters the week at 5-8 overall with a series win over Bucknell last weekend, with wins in three of four, including a 10-6 win at Wofford on March 1. Against Bucknell last weekend, SJU did a little bit of everything in the series, winning the first game by a 2-0 final behind a strong pitching performance from Duke McCarron as he allowed just two hits and fanned seven in five shutout innings before falling 15-13 on Saturday and bouncing back with a 13-3 win on Sunday in the series finale at Smithson Field.
Both sides are using Wednesday's game as a tune-up before conference action gets underway as the Hawks get into A10 play this weekend with a three-game set at Richmond, while West Chester continues to prepare for its conference opening series against Mansfield on March 20-21.
Richard Beggy is batting a team-best .459 (17-for-37) at the plate with two doubles, two triples, and a home run for 14 RBI and eight runs scored, along with a .703 slugging percentage and a 1.226 OPS. Blake Primrose is second on the team offensively, batting .370 with 17 hits of his own and a team-best two home runs, along with three doubles and two triples, which has helped him score a squad-best 14 runs and drive in seven more already this season.
On the mound, Luke Parise and Duke McCarron have both made four starts so far this season, and each has a win to show for it, entering play at 1-1 and 1-2 with ERAs of 6.11 and 7.88 in 17.2 and 16.0 innings of work, respectively. Christian Coppola has the best ERA on staff at 0.57, with a 0.89 WHIP, 15.2 innings of work with 31 strikeouts, including three scoreless innings in relief against Bucknell on Friday. Coppola, a senior right-hander from South Jersey, has made one start this season in his four appearances.
Up Next
West Chester will open its home slate on Friday with a doubleheader against Gannon, beginning at 1 p.m., followed by another doubleheader against the Golden Knights on Saturday, also at 1 p.m.
