West Chester baseball continued its conference struggles this past weekend as they were swept in a four game home and home series against the Millersville Marauders.
The Rams have now lost eight games in a row, and 14 of their last 17.
They have been struggling on both sides of the ball. In the first three games of their series with Millersville, West Chester scored just eight runs, including being shutout in the opener. They have only scored more than four runs twice in their last eight games.
“When you don’t put pressure on the opponent, it makes it easy for the,” head coach Jad Prachniak said.
West Chester was held to just two hits in the first game of Friday’s doubleheader at Serpico field, and in the second game Millersville’s pitcher carried a perfect game into the sixth inning, before a couple of hits, a Justin Lamborn RBI single and a bases-clearing double from Chris Pula finally got the Rams on the board. They were the first runs for West Chester in 13 innings, dating back to their game against Wilmington on April 23.
It also should be noted that West Chester made several baserunning gaffes that contributed to innings ending prematurely. In the sixth inning, Tyler Coleman ran for third on a groundball to the shortstop and was thrown out for the first out of the inning. In the seventh, with the Rams trailing 8-4, Rob Lessig, who was on as a pinch runner, misjudged a line drive to centerfield and was doubled up at first base to end the ballgame.
“Some of our base running may have been a little aggressive, especially since we were trailing by multiple runs,” Prachniak said. “We talked about the different situations and recognize we may need to modify some things depending on the game situations.”
The offense can not be held solely responsible for the recent struggles, however. Pitching has not been sound over the past several games. In the four games against Millersville, West Chester allowed seven runs or more in every one of them. In the first three games, starters Joe Gunkel, Fred Breidenbach and Matt McCallister allowed 15 earned runs in 14.1 innings, which is an ERA over 9.00. When unearned runs were factored in, the three starters combined to allow 22 runs in those 14.1 innings (although the responsibility for those is not on them as much as it is on the defense).
“We gave them some extra opportunities and they capitalized with runs,” Prachniak said.
The only game in which the starting pitcher allowed fewer than five earned runs was in the fourth game, when Conor Kerins tossed four solid innings of one run ball; however, when he departed, reliever Greg McCuch was touched up for six runs in just 1.2 innings.
There is no person to blame for the lack of execution. It is a team-wide epidemic of late. Any player could have made a pitch in a key spot or had a better at bat with runners on base. Now, with just four conference games left and five games left total, West Chester needs to win out in order to have a .500 record for the season. They currently sit in fifth place in the PSAC East, and ninth overall in the entire PSAC.
Their fate is in their own hands. West Chester has a tremendous baseball team and has been getting valiant efforts from both starters, relievers and the offense most of the year prior to this slump. They have the talent to finish the season strong, they just have to execute.
The Golden Rams’ next game will be on Tuesday at Chestnut Hill College, followed by a doubleheader on Friday at Kutztown. With a 1-13 away record this season, West Chester will desperately need to come up with some wins on the road before returning home on Saturday to close out their season.
Worth noting: It seems that Tyler Coleman will most likely win the Rams batting title. His .333 average leads all players with 80 or more at bats and is almost 40 points above Jack Provine’s .296 average….Joe Gunkel also appears to be in line to lead all starters in just about every category. His five wins, 3.08 ERA, 60 strikeouts, 61.1 innings pitched, seven complete games and .243 opponents batting average is first among starters…Gunkel and reliever Kyle Weary will be playing summer collegiate ball with the Morehead City marlins of the Coastal Plains League.
Kenny Ayres is a third-year student majoring in communication studies with a journalism minor. He can be reached at KA739433@wcupa.edu.