CARY, N.C.-For the 27th time this season, West Chester (45-10) got out to a first-inning lead and rode this early advantage to a 12-3 victory over eighth-seeded University of Indianapolis (39-23) to open the National Finals. West Chester scored five runs on six hits in an explosive home half of the first after working around early baserunners and, in doing so, advanced in the winners' bracket and improved to 27-2 when scoring first and 25-1 when scoring in the first.
"It's always good to get the first win in the books," acknowledged head coach
Mike LaRosa following the nine-run victory to open the Tournament. "I thought it was a really good, complete team win for us against a talented and tough UIndy team. It's always good to get out to an early lead, and with someone like Costa (
Julian Costa) on the mound, we knew we were going to be in a position to win."
Tonight's victory also allows West Chester to start the Division II National Finals with a victory for the first time since 2017 as the Golden Rams improve to 6-0 in the 2026 NCAA Tournament. During West Chester's last visit to Cary in 2022, which was the Golden Rams' first trip under head coach
Mike LaRosa, the Golden Rams started the Tournament with a setback to eventual National Champion, North Greenville, before rattling off wins against Southern New Hampshire and Angelo State to advance to the National Semifinals.
Tonight's victory also sees West Chester improve to 37-1 when scoring six or more runs in a game.
Eight of nine Golden Ram players in the Golden Ram lineup recorded a hit in the victory, led by
Caleb Strawhecker (West Grove, Pa./Avon Grove), who went 3-for-5 with a pair of runs and a pair of RBI, along with a walk, while also throwing out a pair of would-be base stealers.
Asked about the big offensive day, which saw West Chester pick up 14 hits from eight different players, led by three from Strawhecker, the sophomore catcher said, "Our guys all do our homework. We knew what we were going to be getting, so we wanted to try to be aggressive early. A hot start like the one we had, combined with the two early pickoffs (West Chester got its first two outs of the game via successful pickoff moves by Costa), helped us really settle in and get the pressure we might have been feeling out of the way early," explained Strawhecker.
After a scoreless top of the first, which featured back-to-back caught stealing on pickoff moves by Costa to erase a pair of early baserunners, West Chester exploded for five runs on six hits, including an RBI double by
Caleb Strawhecker (West Grove, Pa./Avon Grove), which plated the first run of the game before RBI singles by
Austin Stalker (Wycombe, Pa./Council Rock North), Tanner Donati (Pittsburgh, Pa./Mt. Lebanon), and Christian Michak (Kingston, Pa./Wyoming Valley West) helped stretch the lead to 5-0.
This explosive first inning saw West Chester stretch its first inning scoring lead to a gaudy 71-24 margin as the Golden Rams entered play on Friday, outscoring opponents 66-24 in the first.
UIndy answered with a solo home run off the bat of Brayton Bowen in the top of the second and, as expected, put pressure on the West Chester defense throughout the frame, which eventually allowed the Greyhounds to load the bases, which prompted a mound visit from pitching coach
John Fleming. Fleming was able to settle Costa down, and the redshirt-senior got a big second out via strikeout before escaping the inning with a ground ball to the right side to escape the inning.
West Chester loaded the bases in the second but was unable to push anyone across as UIndy stiffened and escaped the inning with a ground ball to second to keep the deficit to at 5-1 heading into the third.
UIndy got another early base runner in the third, but that runner was erased once again by another caught stealing, this time from the strong arm of Strawhecker, which helped Costa work a scoreless top of the third.
In the fourth, UIndy got a run back via an RBI single by ABCA Second Team All-American Austin Bode, which cut the deficit to 5-2, but West Chester answered with an RBI single of its own in the home fifth as Strawhecker picked up his team-leading third hit and second RBI of the evening to restore a 6-2 lead.
The Golden Rams scored their seventh run of the night in the home half of the sixth after a 1-2-3 sixth inning by Costa, including a pair of strikeouts to finish the inning on a delayed steal as
Hunter Smith (Martinsburg, Pa./Central) scampered home after starting the inning with a single through the right side when
Patrick Gozdan (Warminster, Pa./Archbishop Wood) got himself into a run down between first and second.
Costa returned to the mound for his seventh inning of work, marking his second consecutive NCAA Tournament start in which the redshirt senior worked into the seventh inning. Costa got the first two outs of the seventh by way of his sixth and seventh strikeouts of the evening before allowing a two-out single and a four-pitch walk, which prompted another visit from pitching coach
John Fleming. The visit did its job as Costa was able to finish his seventh inning for the second time in as many starts with a fly ball to left as the Golden Rams carried a 7-2 lead into the home half of the seventh.
After this fly ball to left, Costa's day was complete as the senior exited after allowing two runs on 10 hits and two walks, while striking out seven and playing a role in two of the four caught stealings that West Chester recorded against the Greyhounds through the first seven innings.
"I wasn't hitting my spots as well as I would've liked early," noted Costa. "I felt like I had command of my fastball all day, and in the third inning, I was able to settle in and do a better job of working down the mound, which helped me work deep into the game," explained Costa.
In the home seventh, UIndy appeared as if it would be able to keep the deficit right where it was, but the Greyhounds' first defensive miscue of the day extended the seventh inning, and Smith made it painful with a two-RBI single to center as West Chester carried a 9-2 lead into the eighth.
Ben Jones (Coatesville, Pa./Coatesville) worked a scoreless eighth, including a strikeout to finish off the inning before
Carter Rust (Liberty Township, Ohio/Lakota West) added to the lead with a three-run blast to left center, which gave West Chester a commanding 12-2 lead heading into the ninth.
Patrick Taney (Cherry Hill, N.J./Cherry Hill West) entered in relief for the ninth with a 10-run lead and got the first two outs of the inning, but ran into trouble getting the third out. Taney eventually allowed the Greyhounds to scratch across their third run of the game before exiting in favor of
Nick Cugino (West Chester, Pa./Henderson), who got the final out to finish off a 12-3 victory to open the NCAA Tournament.
Aidan Pearson got the start for UIndy and after a rocky first inning, which saw him allow five runs on six hits, settled in somewhat and worked into the fifth, exiting with one away in that frame as the sophomore finished with a final line of six runs on 10 hits and five walks, while striking out a pair after entering the day with a record of 9-3 and a 4.12 ERA.
Griffin Hallahan entered in relief and allowed three runs (one earned) on three hits and a walk, while striking out four in 3.0 innings of work. Drake Downing got the final two outs of the game for UIndy, allowing three runs on one hit, while walking and striking out a pair.
Up Next
West Chester will be back in action on Sunday night at 6 p.m. against UT-Tyler, who defeated Central Missouri by an 8-3 final earlier today to open the Finals in Cary
