WEST CHESTER, Pa.- Needing a Senior Day sweep of Millersville on Friday to secure its first PSAC East Regular season title since 2018, the No. 15/19 West Chester University baseball team (37-9, 21-7) got exactly that with a pair of comeback victories over Millersville (32-16, 16-12) on Friday afternoon in West Chester with a 7-6 game one triumph and a thrilling 4-3 win in the nightcap.
In game one, West Chester erased a five-run deficit heading into the bottom of the fourth with a five-run fourth, which included a grand slam from
Landen Rozich (Oxford, Pa./Oxford) before he picked up his third save of the season later in the game in a 7-6 game three victory. With at least a series split secured, West Chester found itself trailing 3-2 in the seventh and loaded the bases with one out, which allowed
Carter Rust (Liberty Township, Ohio/Lakota West) to be the hero once again with a two-RBI single to left, which lifted West Chester to the 4-3 comeback victory.
"Like I've said all season, we showed tremendous poise and competitiveness all day today," said a very happy head coach
Mike LaRosa following the doubleheader sweep. "Coming back as quickly as we did after a nightmare inning in game one showed a ton of resiliency, and you can say the same thing about the way we won game two after finding a way to tie it and then going behind again in the top of the seventh. The way this team has fought back all season has been great to see. I'm so proud of and happy for our guys to get a sweep like this and clinch the Division at home and on Senior Day against a great team like Millersville."
This doubleheader sweep gave West Chester a 3-1 series victory over Millersville and allowed West Chester to withstand an East Stroudsburg series sweep of Kutztown to earn a share of the Regular Season title and the top seed in the PSAC East entering the Tournament with a series victory over the Warriors earlier in March.
"The East is so good, so getting a share of the Regular Season title and top seed heading into the PSAC Tournament is a tremendous accomplishment," acknowledged LaRosa. "Entering today against a team like Millersville, knowing that we needed to win both to get the regular season title, makes this accomplishment even more gratifying. I felt like all four games we played this weekend had a great playoff feel, and I think that is going to be really good for us as we head into the postseason next week, especially with the number of younger guys we use on a day-to-day basis, who maybe haven't really experienced this level of postseason baseball before."
Following Friday's doubleheader, West Chester honored its 12-player senior class, which included
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).
Game One: WCU 7 Ville 6
WP: Drew Simpson (1-0)
LP: Joe Morrissey (4-1)
S: Landen Rozich (3)
Millersville jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the top of the fourth but West Chester answered back with four runs of its own in the home half, including an RBI single by
Huner Smith (Martinsburg, Pa./Central) and a grand slam by
Landen Rozich (Oxford, Pa./Oxford), which helped West Chester erase the deficit as quickly as it appeared and tie the game at 5-5 heading into the fifth.
"I went up looking to get ahead in the count and looking for a fastball I could hit," said Rozich when asked about his grand slam. "I'm always better early in the count, and I wasn't necessarily looking for a home run; I was just looking to drive the baseball and get the lineup turned over, but I got a good pitch to hit and made the most of it," continued the freshman.
After a scoreless fifth, West Chester scored a pair of runs in the sixth via back-to-back wild pitches, which allowed Smith to score before
Harry Middlebrooks (Bel Air, Md./Archbishop Curley) drove home another run via a sac fly to take a 7-5 lead into the seventh.
Millersville cut into the lead quickly with a leadoff home run and got the tying run on base via a walk, but Rozich, who had entered in relief after the leadoff home run and got three important outs, including a strikeout to finish the game and pick up his third save of the season in an important 7-6 victory over the Marauders.
"That's part of why I came here," explained Rozich when asked about his latest save of the weekend. "I wanted to be a two-way player and be able to make an impact out of the bullpen. I live for moments like this-getting to come in late in a game and slam the door against a good team like Millersville, so it was a great feeling."
Kyle Lazer (Havertown, Pa./Msgr. Bonner & Prendie) got the start and allowed five runs on nine hits, while walking one and striking out four in 3.2 innings of work.
Nick Cugino (West Chester, Pa./Henderson) entered in the fourth and escaped the big inning.
Drew Simpson (Hockessin, Del./DMA) moved to the mound from third in the fifth inning and got the win, his first since 2024, as he struck out five and surrendered just one hit in two scoreless innings of relief.
Rece Ritchey started for Millersville and allowed five unearned runs on five hits, while striking out six in 3.2 innings of work. Joe Morrissey suffered the loss for Millersville, allowing two runs on a hit, while striking out one in 1.1 innings of work.
Game Two WCU 4 Ville 3
WP: Luke Raho (4-2)
LP: Matt Shamany (5-4)
A wild pitch in the second inning gave Millersville an early 1-0 lead before
Carter Rust (Liberty Township, Ohio/Lakota West) tied things up in the third with a sac fly, which scored Rozich and evened the score at 1-1.
Jimmy Kirk gave Millersville a 2-1 lead back in the fourth with a solo home run, his second of the series, before
Chase Jones (Hatfield, Pa./North Penn) plated the tying run with a perfectly executed sac bunt in the fifth, which scored
Patrick Gozdan (Warminster, Pa./Archbishop Wood) and tied the game at 2-2.
Millersville took the lead back in the seventh with an RBI single into center, but
Luke Raho (Johnstown, Pa./Richland), who had entered for the seventh, worked out of the inning and kept the deficit at one heading into the home half of the seventh.
In the home half, Smith started the inning with a single to left, and
Andrew Shank (Mount Laurel, N.J./Lenape) worked a pinch-hit walk before
Tanner Donati (Pittsburgh, Pa./Mount Lebanon) was hit by a pitch with two strikes and one out in the inning to load the bases. Hoping to come through in a bases-loaded spot for the second time on Friday, Rozich was retired on three pitches, but West Chester remained in control with the bases loaded and two outs for Rust, who was in the midst of an excellent series against the Marauders. Rust drove the second pitch of the at-bat from Carlos Caraballo, who was the third pitcher used by Millersville in the seventh, into the right-center gap for a two-RBI single, which scored Shank and Smith and lifted West Chester to the 4-3 comeback victory.
Raho (4-2) earned the win in relief after pitching the seventh and was one of four pitchers used by West Chester on Friday as
Kyle Kearns (West Chester, Pa./Rustin) got the start and allowed two runs (one earned) on four hits, while walking one and striking out a pair in 4.1 innings of work. Cugino got the last two outs of the fifth, and
Ben Jones (Coatesville, Pa./Coatesville) worked a scoreless sixth as West Chester posted yet another late-inning victory.
Matt Shamany (5-4) was excellent throughout the day on Friday, pitching well into the seventh but was tagged with the loss as he allowed four runs (two earned) on three hits and a walk, while striking out eight. Adam Hajdak entered in relief and hit Donati before exiting for Caraballo, who got a big second out of the inning via a strikeout of Rozich before allowing the game-winning two-RBI single by Rust to bring the doubleheader to a close.
Up Next
West Chester will look ahead to the PSAC Tournament at Slippery Rock next week and will play its first game of the Tournament on Thursday at the Rock against the winner of #4 West/#5 East matchup on Wednesday afternoon. Thursday's game is set to begin at 4:30 p.m.
