PHILADELPHIA- The No. 18/25 West Chester University baseball team (30-8) picked up its 30
th win of the season on Tuesday afternoon with an 11-2 victory over Jefferson (19-16) in the Bill Giles Invitational Championship game at Citizens Bank Park as the Golden Rams became Bill Giles Invitational Champions for the fifth year in a row and 16
th time in program history, the most of any program in Bill Giles Invitational history.
Ryan DeHaven (Perkasie, Pa./Pennridge) earned the win to improve to 3-0 on the year, scattering a run on four hits and a walk, while striking out four.
Hunter Smith (Martinsburg, Pa./Central) was 1-for-2 with a pair of runs and a team-best four RBI in the victory.
Drew Simpson (Hockessin, Del./DMA), Carter Rust (Liberty Township, Ohio/Lakota West), and Caleb Strawhecker (West Grove, Pa./Avon Grove) all picked up two hits in the victory as well.
West Chester found itself behind early after Jefferson scored the first run of the game in the first inning, but West Chester answered with six unanswered runs and outscored its foes 10-1 over the next eight innings to cruise to the 11-2 victory.
Jefferson scored the first run of the game on a fielder's choice to third, which allowed Justin Egner, who had reached on a single that dropped into shallow right earlier in the frame, to score the first run.
West Chester tied the game in the second with a double steal as
Patrick Gozdan (Warminster, Pa./Archbishop Wood) swiped second and
Hunter Smith (Martinsburg, Pa./Central) came home on a delayed steal to tie the game at 1-1. Gozdan nearly scored on an error moments later but was cut down at the plate for an important second out of the inning, and Jefferson escaped the inning as the Rams caught
Christian Michak (Kingston, Pa./Wyoming Valley West) trying to steal second to keep the game tied at 1-1.
After scoring its first run of the game in the second without a hit, West Chester got a two-out baserunner after a
Carter Rust (Liberty Township, Ohio/Lakota West) walk and
Caleb Strawhecker (West Grove, Pa./Avon Grove) capitalized with a double in the right center field gap, which found its way to the wall to give West Chester a 2-1 lead. West Chester had the bases loaded with two outs, prompting a pitching change for Jefferson as Cole Roschel entered in relief. Smith greeted the new pitcher with a 0-1 triple off the W.B. Mason sign on the left center field fence, which cleared the bases and gave West Chester a 5-1 lead.
Jefferson nearly scored its second run of the game on a double by Aleksei Goldhill, but Michak came up firing and hit Gozdan for a relay to Strawhecker at the plate, which cut down Tripp Capers, who was trying to score all the way from first as
Ryan DeHaven (Perkasie, Pa./Pennridge) eventually finished a scoreless third inning.
Landen Rozich (Oxford, Pa./Oxford) added to the lead in the fourth with an RBI double down the left field line, which gave West Chester a comfortable 6-1 lead.
Kyle Rogers (Clifton, N.J./Clifton) entered in relief of DeHaven for the fourth inning as DeHaven finished with a final line of one run on four hits and a walk, while striking out four in three innings of work.
After a scoreless top of the fourth, which saw Rogers work around a leadoff error, Jefferson got a run back in the fifth courtesy of a pair of singles and a walk to trim the Golden Ram lead to 6-2.
Drew Simpson (Hockessin, Del./DMA) stretched the lead back to 7-2 with an RBI single through the left side of the infield to restore a five-run lead heading into the home half of the sixth.
Ben Jones (Coatesville, Pa./Coatesville) worked a scoreless sixth inning in relief of Rogers, striking out one and allowing just one walk.
Patrick Taney (Cherry Hill, N.J./Cherry Hill West) entered in relief and started his seventh with a pair of strikeouts before getting the third out of the frame on a lazy fly ball to center as West Chester carried an 8-2 lead into the eighth.
West Chester plated two more in the eighth via a sac fly by Smith and an RBI double down the left-field line by
Andrew Shank (Mount Laurel, N.J./Lenape), who had entered the game as a pinch hitter for Gozdan in the eighth.
Nick Noga (Avondale, Pa./Avon Grove) worked a scoreless eighth, and
Nick Cugino (West Chester, Pa./Henderson) got the first two outs of the ninth before
Evan Wineburg (Norristown, Pa./Archbishop Carroll) entered to get the final out to finish off the Golden Rams' fifth straight and 16th Bill Giles Invitational crown.
Wineburg allowed a double to his first batter but got the final out by way of a strikeout to finish off the 11-2 victory over Jefferson.
Up Next
West Chester will be back in action this weekend against Bloomsburg in a four-game series with the Huskies. Additional information regarding this series, which may be adjusted due to inclement weather in the forecast, will be released as it becomes available.
