West Chester baseball took another step into assuring the No. 2 seed in the PSAC East with a weekend sweep, including Frank Gailey’s 23 career win over Millersville University. The Golden Rams (25-11) entered the weekend unranked by Collegiate Baseball for the first time all season. The Millersville Marauders (8-32) opened the series in the PSAC East cellar with only three wins in conference play.
On Friday, the squads played a doubleheader at Millersville.
In game one, West Chester, offensively, scattered five runs throughout the game. West Chester scored one run in the second and third inning before plating three runs in the sixth inning behind a Bob Stumpo single and Connor Thorp’s RBI triple. Millersville scored two in the bottom half of the sixth, but could not pull closer and fell 5-2.
Chris Powl (3-1) pitched from wire to wire keeping the Marauders at bay only allowing three hits while striking out three.
In the second game of the set, the Marauders hit first with three runs against lefty Frank Gailey, who attempted to claim his record 23 win.
The Rams tied the game at 3-3 in the third inning and exploded for nine more runs in the fourth. Millersville could did not muster another scoring opportunity as the Golden Ram defeated Millersville, 14-3.
Gailey pitched five innings gave up three hits and claimed his second school record in as many weeks. Last Saturday, Gailey claimed the all-time strikeout record.
On Saturday, West Chester took the field at Serpico Stadium honoring and remembering Neil Serpico on the 20 anniversary of his passing. Serpico coached West Chester baseball for 16 years claiming two PSAC titles and winning 291 ball games, only second behind Dr. Glenn Killinger.
In the first game of the twin-bill, Ryan Gerber’s dazzling effort and timely base running wore down the Marauders.
Offensively, West Chester stole six bases off Millersville catcher Jon Kremser’s erratic throws. The Golden Ram responded with aggression on the bases and timely hitting by Thorp who plated Stumpo with a double down the line.
Mark Gilliford and Kevin McGrath each contributed two hits in the contest.
Gerber was masterful and stole the attention throwing a complete game allowing just two hits in lead to his third win of the season, 5-0.
In game two, West Chester continued scorching the ball with a four-run first inning. They followed with two runs in the fourth inning before they opened the game up with six runs in the sixth inning, finishing 12-1 and completing the four-game sweep.
Dave Slusser (3-1) pitched six strong innings giving up four hits, the only Millersville run and striking out four Marauders. Jason Bowman pitched a scoreless seventh inning to lower his 3.55 ERA.
In the four games against Millersville, the quartet of West Chester starters pitched 25 combined innings giving up six runs. West Chester outscored Millersville 36-6.
West Chester will hope to close the PSAC schedule next week with continued momentum with a four-game series against East Stroudsburg on Friday and Saturday. West Chester will play a out of league doubleheader against Shippensburg and California (Pa.) in Shippensburg on Wednesday.