CARY, N.C.- After completing a 5-0 run through the NCAA Division II Atlantic Regional Tournament, including a pair of wins at Millersville last weekend, the seventh-ranked West Chester University baseball team (44-10), who is the top seed in the National Finals, will take on eighth-seeded the University of Indianapolis (UIndy) (39-22) at the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary on Friday, May 29
th at 6 p.m.
#1 West Chester vs #8 UIndy
Game Details: May 29 I 6 P.M.
Location: USA Baseball National Training Complex (Cary, N.C.)
Coverage Links: Live Stats I
Watch I
Tickets
Series: 2-0
WCU Links: NEWS I
ROSTER I
SCHEDULE I
STATS
UIndy Links: NEWS I
ROSTER I
SCHEDULE I
STATS
Fan Information
For fans making the trip to Cary, tickets should be purchased online through Etix (
click here). Single-day prices are set at $20 for a single day ($10 for seniors, children, and Cary/Wake County residents) or $50 for an all-session pass ($25 for seniors, children, Cary/Wake County residents). Seniors are defined as those over 60, and children are defined as those aged 12 and under. A full Tournament central page is available
here. If you live near or in Cary, NC or are planning to travel, join us at Woody's Sports Tavern & Grill, the best spot for pre and post-game hang outs:
https://woodysportstavern.com/woodys-cary-2
For fans unable to make the trip to Cary, live stats will be available via the NCAA.com bracket (Friday's live stat link is available
here), and live video will be available
here. Fans in West Chester can also visit Barnaby's in West Chester, located on High Street, for a watch party on Friday night and throughout the tournament, as Barnaby's will become the NCAA Tournament headquarters for Golden Ram baseball throughout the Tournament run.
The Bracket
West Chester will open its Tournament against eighth-seeded UIndy, which completed an improbable run through the Midwest Regional after starting that Tournament as the seventh seed with a loss to 2022 NCAA Finals participant Illinois-Springfield. The other half of the Golden Rams pod features fourth-seeded Central Missouri vs fifth-seeded Texas-Tyler, who will face off at 1 p.m. on Friday afternoon. The other four-team bracket includes the second-seed and defending National Champion, Tampa, along with third-seeded Catawba, sixth-seeded Point Loma, and seventh-seeded Bentley.
How They Got Here
West Chester heads into the National Finals as hot as any team in Division II Baseball, as the Golden Rams are 5-0 in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2017 and are outscoring opponents 67-22 through five Tournament games. As a team, West Chester is batting .337 with 61 hits, including 18 extra-base hits (12 doubles, five home runs, and a triple), scoring 67 runs and driving in 58 more. The Golden Rams have scored at least seven runs in every NCAA Tournament game so far this season, including a high-water mark of 22 in a 22-7 win over ESU on May 15, while sweeping two games from Millersville in the Super Regionals last weekend with 7 and 9-2 victories over the Marauders.
Individually,
Christian Michak (Kingston, Pa./Wyoming Valley West) has been on a tear at the plate in Regionals, going 10-for-19 (.478) with three doubles, nine RBI, and 10 runs scored, while
Carter Rust (Liberty Township, Pa./Lakota West) is batting .478 (11-for-23) with two doubles and two home runs, driving in eight, while scoring 10 runs of his own.
Caleb Strawhecker (West Grove, Pa./Avon Grove) is also batting .450 (9-for-20) with two doubles, driving in eight runs and scoring six more.
On the mound,
Julian Costa (Mantua, N.J./Clearview) and
Kyle Lazer (Havertown, Pa./Msgr. Bonner & Prendie) are both 2-0 in the Tournament with 11 and 14 innings of work, respectively. Costa has allowed three runs on eight hits, while striking out seven in his two Tournament starts, while Lazer has allowed nine runs (eight earned) on 13 hits and seven walks, while striking out nine in his two starts, including a 7.1 innings gem on Friday at Millersville.
Contrary to West Chester, UIndy took the difficult path to Cary, dropping the first game of its Regional as the seventh-seed to Illinois-Springfield in 10 innings before bouncing back with a 10-0 win over Wayne State, and a 14-11 win in 10 innings over Missouri St.-Louis on Saturday. Needing a pair of wins over host UIS on Sunday, UIndy got what it was looking for, an 11-9 win and a 17-14 win to advance to Super Regionals against Grand Valley State. In Supers, UIndy opened with a 6-5 road win over the top-seeded Lakers on Thursday and posted a 15-10 win on Friday to advance to the National Finals for the third time in four seasons.
Flock Talk
Individually, sophomore catcher Strawhecker, who was the PSAC East Rookie of the Year last season and a First Team All-League, First Team D2CCA All-Region honoree this spring, enters this week batting .359 on the year with 61 hits and 61 runs, along with 43 RBI. The sophomore has 14 doubles, eight home runs and two triples and is one of four Golden Rams with seven home runs or more as
Carter Rust and
Hunter Smith (Martinsburg, Pa./Central) both have seven home runs with batting averages of .355 and .339, while
Austin Stalker (Wycombe, Pa./Council Rock North) has a team-best 11 home runs with 59 RBI and 54 runs scored with a .344 batting average, including a home run at Millersville in the Super Regionals last weekend. Rust, Smith, and Stalker were all All-League selections, and Smith was a consensus All-Region selection.
On the mound, a career season consensus Atlantic Regional Pitcher of the Year,
Julian Costa is a storyline for West Chester as the redshirt-senior lefty is a program-record setting 12-2 on the year with a 2.63 ERA and a .241 batting average against with 74 strikeouts in 82 innings of work, including four complete games and three shutouts. Costa, who also broke the WCU career wins and strikeout records and was the NCBWA National Pitcher of the Week once earlier this season for the second year in a row, became the first Golden Ram pitcher to throw two no-hitters in his college career with a seven-inning no-no against Frostburg State in early March. The veteran lefty also carried a no-hitter in the seventh inning against Millersville in the Super Regionals last week. Lazer, who was the lone player active on the 2022 roster before being injured in the 2022 Super Regionals, transitioned out of the bullpen into a starting role in 2024 and is 8-1 with a 3.72 ERA and a .262 batting average against with 59 strikeouts in 67.2 innings of work. West Chester has a pair of dangerous arms out of the bullpen, but most frequently the left side of the infield, as true freshman SS
Landen Rozich (Oxford, Pa./Oxford) and 3B
Drew Simpson (Hockessin, Del./DMA) are both two-way players for the Golden Rams. Simpson has allowed just one run on one hit and five walks, while striking out 14 over 7.2 innings of work across five appearances (1.17 ERA/.048 BAA), while Rozich is 3-1 with four saves, including a save on Friday at Millersville has a 1.96 ERA with a .212 batting average against and 28 strikeouts in 23.0 innings of work, including striking out the side in his collegiate debut after entering with the bases loaded against IUP on opening day.
We Are Honored
West Chester was well represented in the PSAC East All-Conference and Major Awards, to say the least, as Costa was named PSAC East Pitcher of the Year and First Team All-League as one of eight Golden Rams to earn All-League honors. Costa, Strawhecker, Smith, and Stalker earned First Team honors, while
Patrick Gozdan (Warminster, Pa./Archbishop Wood), Simpson, Rust, and Lazer earned Second Team honors. Since then, Costa has been named the NCBWA and D2CCA Atlantic Region Pitcher of the Year. Strawhecker joined Costa on the D2CCA First Team All-Region, while Smith was a Second Team selection by both organizations.
NCAA Tournament History
The 2012 and 2017 Division II Baseball National Champion Golden Rams return to the NCAA Tournament for the ninth time in the last 10 seasons and the 21st time in program history. West Chester shows a record of 54-40 (.574) in NCAA Tournament games after sweeping the opening weekend last weekend. West Chester is 5-0 to open the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2017, which was also the last time the Golden Rams won the Division II Baseball National Championship. Making its first National Finals appearance since 2022 and its sixth overall, West Chester is 11-6 in the National Finals, including a 2-2 mark during the team's last visit to Cary with wins over Southern New Hampshire and Angelo State in between losses to North Greenville.
Atop the Mountain
With 34 career wins, Costa is second in PSAC history in career wins, first in WCU history, and is the NCAA Division II active career leader in wins, two wins ahead of John Luke Glanton of Tampa, who appears to be the only pitcher remaining with a chance to catch Costa atop this list. Glanton is the active career leader in innings pitched with 326.3 innings of work. Costa is also the active career leader in shutouts (6) and is third in strikeouts with 286, with a chance to climb in Cary as Evan Oakley (Ky. Wesleyan-333) and Drew Stegura (Belmont Abbey-297) have completed their seasons.
We Got Better
West Chester lost its first and only weekend series of the year against Shippensburg on April 11 as the Golden Rams split a doubleheader at Shippensburg after dropping a pair in West Chester the day before. After this series loss, West Chester has been 20-2, including doubleheader sweeps of Bloomsburg and Shepherd, a series win over Millersville, a PSAC Championship game appearance, and a 5-0 run through the Atlantic Regional to return to the National Finals in Cary for the first time since 2022. Since dropping the final game and the third of four to Shippensburg on the road in Mid-April, West has outscored its opponents 215-80 and is batting .320 with 216 hits, including 41 doubles, 23 home runs, and six triples. During the Golden Rams' 20-2 run, Strawhecker is batting a team-best .373 with seven extra-base hits and 24 runs, along with 17 RBI, while Rust and Stalker are batting .367 and .342 with 11 combined home runs, as Rust has hit five, while Stalker has hit six. On the mound,
Julian Costa and
Kyle Lazer are a combined 11-0 as Costa is 6-0 with a 2.86 ERA and 30 strikeouts in 34.2 innings of work, while Lazer is 5-0 with a 4.13 ERA during this run.
How We Stack Up
Among the eight teams in Cary, West Chester ranks second in the field in ERA (4.02), which is sixth-best nationally. West Chester is also second in strikeout-to-walk ratio (2.94), second in WHIP (1.32), second in walks per nine (2.83), third in stolen bases (128), fourth in on-base percentage (.439), and fourth in shutouts (7). Individually, Costa is fifth in the field in ERA at 2.63 and fifth in the field in K-to-BB ratio at 3.89.
Carter Rust leads the field in stolen bases per game at 0.62 and is third in stolen bases with 29.
The full ranking summary of the eight teams in Cary is available via the Hyperlink above.
New Faces, Familiar Territory
West Chester is making its sixth appearance in the Division II National Finals in team history and its first since 2022.
Kyle Lazer, who was injured in the 2022 Super Regionals and
Julian Costa, who was a redshirt in that 2022 season are the lone two remaining players from that 2022 squad, however, West Chester does have players with experience playing on the biggest stage on its roster as
Andrew Kell (Salisbury), and
Nick Cugino (Rowan) both played in the NCAA D3 World Series, while
Patrick Taney pitched in the JUCO World Series before coming to West Chester.
The 20th Anniversary
The 2026 squad returns to Cary on the 20-year anniversary of the first WCU team to advance to the National Finals in 2006. In 2006, West Chester went 1-2, with a win over Francis Marion and losses to Montevallo in Montgomery, Alabama. The team made its first appearance in Cary in 2009 with a pair of losses to Lynn (3-2) and UC San Diego (8-6).
Some Good Advice
West Chester has gotten visits from some alums with significant experience on the biggest stage as MLB veteran, who played in the 2020 World Series and was an All-Star Reserve Joey Wendle visited the Golden Rams ahead of the Super Regionals at Millersville, while Josh Heyne visited the Golden Rams on Memorial Day as Heyne is one of select group of Golden Rams to play in two National Finals as he appeared in 2009 and 2012.
WE BEAT THEM WHEN
West Chester went on the road on March 14 and defeated Division I Saint Joseph's by a 14-10 final behind a three-home run, eight RBI day from
Caleb Strawhecker as the sophomore tied single-game program records for home runs, consecutive at-bats with a home run, and RBI in the victory. After this game, SJU went 31-11, including an A10 Regular Season title to finish the year at 36-20 after a loss to VCU in the A10 Tournament.
Comeback Kids
While West Chester has made hot starts a habit this year, outscoring teams 66-24 in the first inning and going 24-1 when scoring in the first and 26-2 when scoring first, the team has not been rattled by an early deficit either. West Chester is 3-1 when tied after six, having engineered a number of late-game comebacks, including walkoff wins over Gannon, East Stroudsburg, Kutztown, and Millersville, along with another two-run sixth inning against the Marauders and a seven-run sixth inning against Shepherd to earn late victories in each of those. The Golden Rams have yet to erase a deficit in an NCAA Tournament game this season but did successfully do so in the PSAC Tournament against Shepherd after falling behind 2-0 in the top of the first.
Six or More
West Chester is 36-1 when scoring six more runs in a game, including a 19-0 record when scoring 10 or more. The Golden Rams are 8-9 when scoring five runs or less, including a record of 1-5 when scoring two or less, with the lone victory being a 2-0 shutout win at East Stroudsburg to begin the series with the Warriors on March 27.
Ohtani Esque
West Chester has not one, but two two-way players in the infield this season. Freshman shortstop
Landen Rozich has appeared in 49 games with 43 starts and logged a .252 batting average with six doubles, four home runs, and a triple, while driving in 21 and scoring 26, while also pitching to a mark of 3-1 with four saves, a 1.96 ERA, and a .212 batting average against with 28 strikeouts in 23.0 innings, including striking out the side in relief with bases loaded in his collegiate debut against IUP.
Drew Simpson is also back in action in 2026 after missing 2025 due to injury and was an All-Conference third baseman with a .322 batting average and nine doubles, six home runs, and a triple, scoring 51 runs and driving in 42, while also making five appearances on the mound and striking out 14, while allowing just one run on one hit and three walks in 7.2 innings as he enters the Tournament with a 1.17 ERA and a .048 batting average against.
Know the Foe
West Chester is 2-0 in its limited history against UIndy with a doubleheader sweep of the Greyhounds during a Spring Break trip to Florida in 2012. West Chester captured game one by an 11-2 final and game two by a 7-1 final in Davenport, Florida, to start that series. The only team West Chester may face this week that the Golden Rams have previously seen in the National Finals is Catawba, which the team defeated 2-1 in Cary in May 2012 en route to a National Championship win over Delta State on June 2. West Chester is unlikely to face Catawba this week, as the Indians are on the other side of the bracket as the third seed and will face Point Loma on Saturday afternoon at 1:30 to begin their Tournament.
Scouting UIndy
UIndy heads into the Finals on a six-game winning streak after dropping its first NCAA Tournament game and the final game of its conference Tournament the week prior, entering Cary at 39-22 on the season. Making its third appearance in four seasons, UIndy boasts one of the top offenses in Division II, batting .320 on the year, led by Austin Bode, who is batting .404 with 82 runs and 78 RBI with 90 hits, including 19 home runs, 18 doubles, and seven triples. Gavin Duran and Bret Perry are batting .355 and .348, while Chason Mason is batting .332, as eight of the nine Greyhounds in the starting nine are batting north of .300.
On the mound, Aidan Pearson and Ryan O'Born both have nine wins on the year and enter Cary at 9-3 and 9-2 with ERAs of 4.12 and 5.27, respectively. Pearson has struck out 61 in 87.1 innings of work and has a .265 batting average against, while O'Born has fanned 38 in 68.1 innings. Drake Downing has made 32 appearances out of the pen, has eight saves, a record of 5-7, a 5.14 ERA, and a .294 batting average against with 63 strikeouts in 61.1 innings of work.
With a Win
With a victory, West Chester will advance in the winners' bracket on the opening day of the Tournament for the first time since 2017. The Golden Rams would face the winner of Central Missouri/UT-Tyler on Sunday at 6 p.m. and, with a win in that game, would not play again until June 3.
