WEST CHESTER, Pa.- The No.15/17 West Chester University baseball team (38-4, 18-6) heads into the final weekend of the regular season ready to renew its rivalry with RV/RV Millersville (31-13,15-9) in search of its first PSAC East Regular Season title since 2018. West Chester will open its series with the Marauders at Cooper Park on Thursday afternoon at 1 p.m. before hosting Millersville in West Chester on Friday at 1 p.m. to finish the regular season.
West Chester vs Millersville
Series Details:
Thursday, April 30 1 & 3:30 P.M. (Cooper Park – Millersville, Pa.)
Friday, May 1 1 & 3:30 P.M. (Serpico Stadium – West Chester, Pa.)
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Last Time Out
West Chester heads into the weekend series with Millersville riding a 10-game winning streak after a weekend series sweep of Bloomsburg last weekend, which saw the Golden Rams outscore the Huskies 38-14 to improve to 34-8 overall and 18-6 in league play. Led by
Patrick Gozdan (Warminster, Pa./Archbishop Wood) and his 9-for-12 effort at the plate with three extra-base hits (two doubles, one home run) and seven RBI, West Chester batted .360 at the plate last weekend, while the Golden Ram pitchers held the Huskies to just .260 (26-for-100) at the plate. West Chester got significant length out of all weekend winners as
Julian Costa (Mantua, N.J./Clearview) started the series with a complete-game, allowing just six hits and two unearned runs, while striking out six.
Luke Raho (Johnstown, Pa./Richland) followed this up with 6.1 strong innings, allowing three runs (two earned) on eight hits, while striking out four in the nightcap. On Friday, to conclude the series,
Kyle Lazer (Havertown, Pa./Msgr. Bonner & Prendie) allowed just one run on five hits, while striking out a pair in five innings, before
Kyle Rogers (Clifton, N.J./Clifton) pitched six innings in relief in the series finale, allowing just one run on two hits and a walk, while striking out five.
Flock Talk
West Chester enters the last weekend of the regular season batting .319 as a team with a team OPS of .972, including a .525 slugging percentage and a .447 on-base percentage, while limiting its opponents to a .265 batting average and a .720 OPS with a .390 slugging percentage and a .330 on-base percentage.
Offensively,
Hunter Smith (Martinsburg, Pa./Central) leads the team with a .380 batting average and a 1.170 OPS with 46 hits, including 13 doubles, six home runs, and three triples, while driving in 47 runs and scoring 28 more.
Austin Stalker (Wycombe, Pa./Council Rock North) is close behind, batting .362 with a 1.147 OPS, including a team-best nine home runs and 47 RBI, while also scoring 44 runs along with a team-best 50 hits.
Caleb Strawhecker (West Grove, Pa./Avon Grove) and Gozdan are a close second and third at .357 and .352 with OPS's of 1.159 and 1.062, respectively. Strawhecker has scored a team-best 50 runs on the season with 21 extra-base hits, including 11 doubles, eight home runs, and a pair of triples.
On the mound, Costa has cemented himself as one of the top pitchers in Division II Baseball at 8-2 on the year with a 2.24 ERA and a .233 batting average against with 58 strikeouts in 60.1 innings of work, including four complete games and three shutouts. Lazer is 5-1 with a 3.07 ERA and a .253 batting average against with 40 strikeouts in 44 innings, while Raho is 3-1 with a 4.34 ERA and 37 strikeouts in 45.2 innings, including a .276 batting average against. Out of the bullpen,
Landen Rozich (Oxford, Pa./Oxford),
Nick Cugino (West Chester, Pa./Henderson), and Ben Jones (Coatesville, Pa./Coatesville) remain top choices for the Golden Rams. Jones has a staff-best three saves on the year in 14 appearances with a 5.14 ERA and 17 strikeouts. He has also picked up three wins. Cugino is 2-0 and earned his first save of the year in his 16
th appearance last weekend. A stopper out of the 'pen, Cugino has a 2.53 ERA and a .286 batting average in his 10.2 innings of work. Rozich is 3-1 with a save and a 2.20 ERA along with a .222 batting average against and 26 strikeouts in 16.1 innings of work over the course of nine appearances.
Postseason Implications
West Chester retains a slim lead atop the PSAC East and, with its sixth PSAC East series victory of the season, would capture its first PSAC East regular-season crown since 2018. Anything less than a series victory leaves the door very much open for East Stroudsburg or potentially even Millersville to rise to the top spot in the Eastern Division heading into the PSAC Tournament next week. If West Chester finishes the season in a tie with East Stroudsburg for any place in the league standings, West Chester would win that tiebreak over the Warriors by virtue of a 3-1 series victory over ESU earlier this spring.
In addition to the PSAC Tournament seeding implications, this weekend's series also carries major Regional Tournament implications as West Chester, East Stroudsburg, and Millersville are all (along with PSAC West Regular Season Champion Seton Hill) vying for a top two seed in the NCAA Atlantic Regional Tournament when that Tournament begins on May 14.
Thank You Seniors
West Chester and Millersville both honor their senior classes this week as Millersville will recognize its seniors, which include Mike Costello, Brady Ebbert, Jimmy Kirk, Alex Kiehn, Joe Morrissey, Rece Ritchey, Matt Shamany, Hunter Stevens, and Matthew Williams, on Thursday at Cooper Park. West Chester will in turn recognize its seniors postgame on Friday, this group includes
Julian Costa (Mantua, N.J./Clearview), Ryan DeHaven (Perkasie, Pa./Pennridge), John Dunion (Wilmington, Del./Salesianum), Andrew Kell (Columbia, Md./Oakland Mills), Kyle Lazer (Havertown, Pa./Msgr. Bonner & Prendie), Christian Michak (Kingston, Pa./Wyoming Valley West), Nick Noga (Avondale, Pa./Avon Grove), Carter Rust (Liberty Township, Ohio/Lakota West), Sean Slowinski (Richboro, Pa./Archbishop Wood), Austin Stalker (Wycombe, Pa./Council Rock North), Patrick Taney (Cherry Hill, N.J./Cherry Hill West), and Evan Wineburg (Norristown, Pa./Archbishop Carroll). Friday's doubleheader will also be Alumni Day for West Chester.
We Are Honored
West Chester picked up yet another PSAC East weekly award on Monday as the league office recognized Gozdan after the sophomore went 10-for-14 (.714) at the plate over the course of five games, including a 9-for-12 effort with seven RBI in the weekend series sweep of Bloomsburg, as the Golden Rams swept a weekend series for the second week in a row.
Chasing History
Costa tied the Golden Rams career win record last week in West Chester and will go for his 31
st career victory against Millersville this weekend. If Costa picks up this monumental victory, the senior would pass Jeff Brennan on the Golden Rams career win chart and also move into a tie for third in league history in wins with the most wins by a PSAC pitcher since Cordell Shannon (Millersville) won 31 games from 2016-19.
Going Streaking
West Chester heads into the final weekend of the regular season on a 10-game winning streak, outscoring teams 113-31 over the course of this 10-game streak, including a 24-4 and 18-3 doubleheader sweep of Shepherd on the road on April 18, along with an 11-2 victory over Jefferson in the Bill Giles Championship game at Citizens Bank Park last week.
Rank and File
West Chester rose back to 19
th in the latest American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) poll this week and is 15th in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association poll. The Golden Rams are also ranked 17
th in the latest Division II Baseball (DIVIIBaseball.com) poll and eighth in Wayne Cavadi's latest NCAA.com Power-10 Power Rankings.
Series History
West Chester maintains a 97-59 lead over Millersville in the all-time series, though since 2011 Millersville has a 30-25 lead. Since 2015, West Chester and Millersville have both won four series, and West Chester swept the Marauders in 2024 and 2022, along with a pair of splits along the way. West Chester remains the only team in the PSAC East with a winning record at Cooper Park at 18-16 since it opened in 2007. Twelve of the last 13 meetings have been decided by three runs or less, and there have been 20 one-run games between the two teams since 2011, with West Chester winning seven of the last eight such games.
Scouting Millersville
Millersville enters the weekend winners of seven in a row and eight of nine following a series sweep of Kutztown last weekend, which saw the Marauders outscore the Golden Bears 42-5. Millersville is a different team at home with a record of 22-3 overall and 10-2 in league action, outscoring opponents 188-80, including a 23-8 lead in home runs. The Marauders pitching staff boasts a 2.93 home ERA compared to a 6.79 ERA away from home.
Sammy Laux and Matthew Williams are first and second on the team offensively, batting .357 and .338 on the year, as Williams ranks second on the team in home runs with 11, trailing only Jimmy Kirk (.288) and his 11 home runs on the season. Krik has driven in 49 runs and scored 36 more, while Brady Ebbert has scored 42 runs and driven in 38 with a .288 batting average, including 10 doubles, six home runs, and a triple.
On the mound, Eli Simonton is in the midst of an excellent rookie season with a record of 4-1 and a 2.98 ERA, along with a .221 batting average against with 48 strikeouts in 48.1 innings of work, including a complete game. Matt Shamany is next at 5-3 with a 3.35 ERA and a .217 batting average against with 43 strikeouts in 45.2 innings, while Rece Ritchey is 4-1 with a 3.59 ERA and a .231 batting average against with a staff-best 53 strikeouts in 47.2 innings of work. Alex Kuehn is the final weekend starter for Millersville, entering the series at 6-4 with a 5.37 ERA and a .271 batting average against with 46 strikeouts in 55.1 innings of work, including a pair of complete games. Joe Morrissey has been hard to hit out of the bullpen for Millersville this season as he enters the weekend with a team-best five saves and a 0.73 ERA, along with a .184 batting average against and 46 strikeouts in 47 innings of work across 16 appearances.
Up Next
West Chester will look ahead to the PSAC Tournament next week at Slippery Rock, beginning on May 6. New in 2026, the Tournament will be a 10-team single-elimination Tournament, with only the games between the fourth and fifth seeds played on May 6, with the remaining teams opening their Tournament on May 7.
