MILLERSVILLE, Pa.- The No. 15/17 West Chester University baseball team (35-9, 19-7) started its final PSAC East series of the regular season against Millersville (32-14, 16-10) with a split on Thursday afternoon as the Golden Rams, led by a strong pitching performance by Julian Costa (Mantua, N.J./Clearview) and three home runs took game one by a 4-3 final before dropping the nightcap by a 6-0 final.

Costa improved to 9-2 on the year with 5.2 strong innings of work in the first game of the series and, in doing so, claimed solo first place on the Golden Ram career win chart, breaking a tie with Jeff Brennan atop the list with the 31^st win of his career. Costa also became the winningest PSAC pitcher since 2019 with this victory and moved into a tie for first on the Division II Baseball active-career wins leader chart, matching Robbie Jordan of Francis Marion for the top spot on the list.

Game One: WCU 4 Ville 3

WP: Julian Costa (9-2) LP: Eli Simonton (4-2) S: Landen Rozich (2)

West Chester jumped out to an early 1-0 lead when Carter Rust (Liberty Township, Ohio/Lakota West) turned around the second pitch of the game to give the visiting Golden Rams an early 1-0 lead.

Millersville got this run back in the second with an RBI double by Sammy Laux, which scored Xavier Smith, who had started the inning with a nine-pitch walk to tie the game at 1-1. Costa worked out of the inning quickly, stranding Laux at second to keep things even at 1-1 heading for the third.

In the third, Rust started the inning with a triple to right center before scoring on a sac fly from Caleb Strawhecker (West Grove, Pa./Avon Grove), which gave the Golden Rams a 2-1 lead. Drew Simpson (Hockessin, Del./DMA) and Austin Stalker (Wycombe, Pa./Council Rock North) followed this with back-to-back solo home runs, which gave West Chester a comfortable 4-1 lead against the Marauders and Eli Simonton.

Christo Hunsicker hit a solo shot in the fifth, and Jimmy Kirk hit one of his own in the sixth, which cut the lead to 4-3 and eventually closed the book on Costa as Landen Rozich (Oxford, Pa./Oxford) moved from short to the mound with two outs in the sixth to finish off the inning.


Rozich did just that, working around a Marauder runner with a lazy fly ball to center to keep a one-run lead intact into the seventh.
Costa was excellent once again in Thursday's series-opening game as he allowed three runs on four hits, while striking out four in 5.2 innings of work as he earned his ninth win of the season and program-record-breaking 31^st of his career.

With his ninth win of the season, Costa moves into a tie with Braeden Fausnaught (2022), Fred Breidenbach (2012), David Slusser (2006), Frank Gailey (2006), and Chris Powl (2006) for a tie for ninth in single-season wins. With a postseason victory, Costa will move into a tie for second with the likes of Jeff Brennan, Joe Gunkel, and Larry Coyle and move just one win away from matching Fred Breidenbach's program record of 11 wins in the 2010 season.

Additionally, Costa's 31 victories move him into a tie for third in league history in career wins and make him the winningest pitcher in the league since Cordell Shannon (Millersville) won his 31^st game in 2019 at the end of his career, which stretched from 2016-19. Furthermore, Costa also moves into a tie for first among active pitchers in Division II with Robbie Jordan of Francis Marion for first in career wins. Francis Marion is already in its conference Tournament this week, Jordan will have the chance to try and move back into first place alone atop the active-career leader chart with a win in the postseason for the 40-10 Patriots.

Eli Simonton (4-2) suffered the loss for Millersville, allowing four runs on eight hits, while walking two and striking out three.

Rozich earned his second save of the year in relief, allowing just one hit and a walk, while striking out one in a scoreless 1.1 innings of work.

Game Two Ville 6 WCU 0

WP: Alex Kuehn (7-4) LP: Luke Raho (3-2)

After falling to the visiting Golden Rams 4-3 in Thursday's opening game, the Marauders held their guests without a hit through the first five innings and in that time took a five-run lead with a four-run fourth inning on six hits and an error to take a commanding lead.

Millersville added a run in the sixth via a sac fly, which extended the lead to 6-0 after Tanner Donati (Pittsburgh, Pa./Mt Lebanon) picked up the Golden Rams' first hit of the game to lead off the sixth inning.

Trailing 6-0 in the seventh, West Chester started the inning with a single by Strawhecker and loaded the bases with two outs after a walk by Hunter Smith (Martinsburg, Pa./Central) and a single by Patrick Gozdan (Warminster, Pa./Archbishop Wood) but the Golden Rams were unable to score as the Marauders held on for a 6-0 victory and doubleheader split to open the final series of the regular season.

Luke Raho (Johnstown, Pa./Richland) (3-2) suffered the loss in the nightcap, allowing five runs (four earned) on seven hits and two strikeouts in 3.1 innings of work. Nick Cugino (West Chester, Pa./Henderson) entered in relief and got the last two outs of the fourth, while Kyle Rogers (Clifton, N.J./Clifton) finished the game on the mound, allowing a run on two hits and two walks, while striking out one as he pitched the final two innings.

Alex Kuehn, who was part of Senior Day ceremonies in between games, was excellent in the nightcap, allowing just one hit in 5.2 innings of work, while striking out one to earn his seventh win of the season. Joe Morrissey finished the game on the mound, allowing a walk and two hits, while striking out a pair in 1.1 innings of work.

Up Next

West Chester will be back in action tomorrow afternoon at home against Millersville for its final doubleheader of the regular season, beginning at 1 p.m. Senior Day ceremonies are scheduled to occur following the doubleheader.