WILLIAMSPORT, Pa.- The No. 12/20/22 West Chester University baseball team (16-3, 3-1) bounced back from a split with Mansfield (10-13, 1-3) on Friday to sweep the Mountaineers on Saturday by 9-0 and 10-0 finals as the Golden Rams earned their first PSAC East series victory of the year. After falling by a 4-1 final in the first game of PSAC East play on Friday afternoon, West Chester outscored its foes 31-7 over the next three games, including a pair of shutouts on Saturday behind terrific pitching performances by
Kyle Lazer (Havertown, Pa./Msgr. Bonner & Prendie) and
Kyle Rogers (Clifton, N.J./Clifton) to win the series against the Mountaineers.
Game One: WCU 9 Mansfield 0
WP: Kyle Lazer (2-1)
LP: Quinn Shindler (2-3)
Lazer was excellent on Saturday for his second win of the season as he allowed just four hits, while striking out five in a complete-game victory.
West Chester took an early 2-0 lead in the first inning with a double steal, which scored
Caleb Strawhecker (West Grove, Pa./Avon Grove) and an RBI single by
Chase Jones (Hatfield, Pa./North Penn).
Hunter Smith (Martinsburg, Pa./Central) drove home another run in the third with a sac fly to center before
Andrew Kell (Columbia, Md./Oakland Mills) doubled home a pair of runs to give West Chester a commanding 5-0 lead.
Austin Stalker (Wycombe, Pa./Council Rock North), who had scored via an RBI single in the first inning, drove in a run with an RBI single of his own in the fourth, which extended the lead to 6-0 heading into the home half of the fourth.
West Chester plated a run in the fifth via an error, another in the sixth via an RBI double by
Drew Simpson (Hockessin, Del./DMA), and a final run in the seventh with a sac fly by Strawhecker, which gave West Chester a commanding 9-0 lead.
Shindler suffered the loss for Mansfield, allowing six runs (three earned) on three hits and a walk, while striking out five.
Game Two WCU 10 Mansfield 0
WP: Kyle Rogers (3-1)
LP: Austin Beauchamp (0-2)
Christian Michak (Kingston, Pa./Wyoming Valley West) brought home the first run of the game with an RBI groundout back to the mound in the third inning before West Chester exploded for five runs on just one hit in the fourth inning.
The five-run fourth inning included a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch of
Patrick Gozdan (Warminster, Pa./Archbishop Wood), a pair of passed balls that scored Kell and
Landen Rozich (Oxford, Pa./Oxford), and a two-RBI single by Michak, which scored both Gozdan and Simpson.
West Chester added four more runs to its total in the sixth inning with an RBI sac fly from Michak for his fourth RBI of the afternoon, along with a trio of RBI doubles by Strawhecker, Smith, and Stalker to take a 10-0 lead into the home half of the sixth.
The one-run lead, which West Chester took in the third, would have been enough for
Kyle Rogers (Clifton, N.J./Clifton) (3-1) as he delivered a tremendous outing, allowing just three hits and a walk, while striking out a pair in six innings of work for his third win of the year.
Ben Jones (Coatesville, Pa./Coatesville) finished off the weekend series win with a scoreless seventh inning in relief, striking out a pair to close out the series.
Austin Beauchamp suffered the loss for Mansfield, allowing six runs (three earned) on two hits, two walks, and two batters hit by pitch, while striking out three to fall to 0-2 on the year.
Stalker was a team-best 2-for-4 in the nightcap, but Michak drove in a team-best four runs despite going just 1-for-3 at the plate in the series-clinching win.
Up Next
West Chester will be back in action on Friday at East Stroudsburg, beginning at 1 p.m., to open its series against the Warriors before hosting the rival Warriors in a Saturday doubleheader to conclude the four-game set and the month of March.
