WEST CHESTER, Pa.- Looking to bounce back quickly from a weekend series loss to Shippensburg, the No. 8/28 West Chester University baseball team (25-8) returned to action on Wednesday afternoon for a non-league battle against Goldey-Beacom (26-14). West Chester found itself down 4-0 after the top of the second but answered with three in the home half and scored 11 unanswered between the bottom of the second and the bottom of the fifth to erase the early deficit and roll to an 11-5 victory over the Lightning.
West Chester got back in the win column on Wednesday with 11 hits, including a home run by
AJ DiAddezio (Phoenixville, Pa./Pope John Paul II) as nine different players recorded a hit in the victory with
Hunter Smith (Martinsburg, Pa./Central) and Drew Simpson (Hockessin, Del./DMA) both picking up multi-hit afternoons.
After a scoreless first, Goldey Beacom scored four in the top of the second on two hits, including a double down the left field line by Trey Mason and a pair of Golden Ram errors to take a 4-0 lead into the home second.
West Chester responded in the second with an RBI double by
Harry Middlebrooks (Bel Air, Md./Archbishop Curley), which was immediately followed by a two-run blast from DiAddezio to cut the deficit to 4-3 heading into the third.
In the third, West Chester tied the game with an RBI single by
Christian Michak (Kingston, Pa./Wyoming Valley West), which scored Smith, who had worked a one-out walk to spark the inning. This RBI single forced a Goldey-Beacom pitching change as Britton Wildasin entered in relief of Nate Miller. Middlebrooks greeted the new pitcher with a sac fly to center, which scored
Patrick Gozdan (Warminster, Pa./Archbishop Wood), who had singled off Miller's leg earlier in the inning to give West Chester its first lead of the day at 5-4 heading into the fourth.
West Chester added an insurance run in the fourth with a double steal, which, after the throw escaped down the third-base line, allowed
Carter Rust (Liberty Township, Ohio/Lakota West) to scamper home and give West Chester a 6-4 lead.
After back-to-back walks to open the fifth and a perfect sac bunt by DiAddezio, West Chester scored its seventh run of the game on a wild pitch, which scored Michak as the Golden Rams plated a run for the fourth inning in a row. West Chester was far from finished in the fifth as the Golden Rams added four more runs via an RBI single by Simpson
, a two-RBI double by
Austin Stalker (Wycombe, Pa./Council Rock North), and an RBI double down the line from Smith, which gave West Chester a commanding 11-4 lead.
After a rocky second inning, West Chester held Goldey Beacom to just four hits and no runs into the top of the eighth inning.
Nick Noga (Avondale, Pa./Avon Grove), who had entered in relief, got his first out of the inning on a first-pitch groundout to short before surrendering a solo home run to left, which proved to be Goldey Beacom's final hit and run of the afternoon.
Ryan DeHaven (Peraksie, Pa./Pennridge) (2-0) earned his second win of the season, allowing four unearned runs on four hits, while walking three and striking out four in three innings of work.
Kyle Rogers (Clifton, N.J./Clifton) worked two scoreless innings in relief, allowing one hit and a walk, while striking out four.
Ben Jones (Coatesville, Pa./Coatesville), Patrick Taney (Cherry Hill, N.J./Cherry Hill West), and Evan Wineburg (Norristown, Pa./Archbishop Carroll) all worked scoreless innings in relief, and Wineburg struck out a pair on 12 pitches in a 1,2,3 ninth inning to finish off the victory.
Nate Miller (3-3) was tagged with his third loss of the season, allowing five runs on six hits and four walks, while striking out a pair. Ty Federici and Tyler Leech both worked scoreless innings in relief as two of six Goldey-Beacom pitchers used, but the lone two to record a scoreless outing as they worked the seventh and eighth innings, respectively.
Up Next
West Chester will jump back into league action on Friday at home against Shepherd, beginning at 1 p.m.
