Following a two-game win-streak against the Shippensburg University Raiders, the Golden Rams traveled out of the PSAC to face the 22-19 Chestnut Hill Griffins. The Rams came out swinging with a leadoff single from Kyle Feaster. At his first plate appearance of the game, Senior Jared Melone hit a one out homer to bring the Rams ahead 2-0, going into the bottom of the first.
The Griffins weren’t shy at their first plate appearances either. They came out strong tallying three runs before the end of the inning. Feaster had a home-run of his own at the top of the second to bring the Rams ahead 4-3. The Rams scored five more runs across the next three innings. The Rams led the Griffins 9-3 until the bottom of the fifth.
The Griffins rallied back with four unearned and two earned runs to end the fifth inning, bringing the score 9-9. The Rams were able to score three more runs with the Griffins over the next three innings, scoring five.
With a score of 14-12 at the top of the ninth inning and the Rams trailing, they looked to rally together during their last at bats.
The top of the line up was at the plate. Feaster and sophomore Justin Horn hit back-to-back lead-off singles. Melone hit a sac fly to right field scoring Feaster and bringing the Rams within one. Senior Joe Zirolli came up big at the plate hitting a two-run homer to give the Rams the lead.
The Rams were able to tack on one more run with an RBI double from Junior Corey Webb before the end of the game.
With a final score of 16-14, the Rams took the win and gave Senior reliever Andrew Scarpelli his first save on the season. Feaster led the Rams with four hits, three RBIs and a home-run. Zirolli and Melone weren’t far behind with three hits each.
The Rams traveled to Millersville University on Saturday April 20 for a double header against the Marauders.
The Rams were scoreless until the top of the fourth, where they were down 3-0. With two outs and one man on, Zirolli was up to bat. He was able to come up big again for the Rams, providing a two run homer to bring them within one.
Unfortunately for the Rams, the 29-7 Marauders tallied three runs at the bottom of the fourth inning, giving them the 6-2 lead. The remainder of the game was scoreless, giving the Rams their eleventh loss of the season.
The Rams went into Saturday’s second game hoping for a different outcome. Both teams remained scoreless across the first four innings. Millersville got on the board first with an RBI double from Jimmy Cain. At the top of the sixth the Rams were able to get the bat on the ball with a triple from Horn, putting a man in scoring position for Melone.
Melone hit his twenty-fifth career homer to give the Rams a 2-1 lead. Senior Jon Fisher sealed the deal for the Rams by only allowing one hit in the last two innings.
The Rams and Marauders spent their Easter holiday on Serpico Field. The Marauders came out swinging against the Rams scoring seven runs off six hits in the first two innings. The score remained 7-0 until the bottom of the sixth when the Rams were able to make some contact.
The Rams had a tough start to the inning with a pop up and a fly out. With two outs and no one on, Horn looked to give the Rams some life. Horn and Melone hit back to back singles to start the two out rally. Up next, Zirolli hit an RBI single scoring Horn and putting the Rams on the board.
The scoring didn’t stop there. First-year Luke Cantwell hit his fourth home-run of the season scoring Melone and Zirolli. West Chester’s scoring was at a standstill until the bottom of the seventh when Horn and Melone both hit RBI singles to trim the score to 9-6.
With two men on, Zirolli tied the game with another homer scoring Horn and Melone. Both teams went back and forth leaving the game tied 10-10 at the bottom of the ninth.
Going into the bottom of the tenth the Rams looked to end the extra inning game on a win. With the bases loaded and no outs, Horn was up to bat. Horn delivered with an RBI single to center field to win the game for the Rams. Horn led the offensive in game one with three hits, two RBIs and two runs with six at bats.
Unfortunately, the Rams didn’t have much of the same success during Sunday’s game two. Millersville tallied a run off the third pitch from Senior Scott McKenna.
There was not much action from either team until the bottom of the third when West Chester was able to get up on the board. Senior Jon Hansen started off the inning with a single. With one on and one out, Feaster was up to bat. Feaster tallied another homer to bring the Rams up 2-1.
Unfortunately for the Rams, the Marauders answered by scoring five runs at the top of the fourth. They would also go on to score one more run at the top of the fifth. The Rams fell 7-2 in their final game against the Marauders.
It wasn’t all bad news for the Rams, however. Going 8-for-16 with four homers and 11 RBIs, Zirolli was named PSAC East Athlete of the Week as well as National College Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Atlantic Region Hitter of the Week. After being named the eighth team in NCAA ranking, the Golden Rams are looking to finish their season off strong to make the six-team cut off.
This battle to the sixth spot began on Saturday when the Rams faced the Kutztown Golden Bears.
The four game series was set to begin Saturday April 27 with the Ram’s Senior Day Celebration.
The 16 seniors honored during game one on Saturday included: Collin Healey, Jon Fisher, Drew Jarmuz, Joey Coyle, Tyler Forbes, Scott McKenna, Michael Krusinski,Tim Edwards, Kyle Feaster, Michael Dietz, Andrew Scarpelli, Alex Gouveia, Joe Zirolli, Culver Hughes, Jon Hansen and Jared Melone.
It only took until their second at bats for Kutztown to get ahead of the Rams during the Saturday start. An RBI single from the Bears put them on the board ahead of the Rams. A homer from Zirolli in the bottom of the sixth tied the game. The tie however was short lived. The Bears hit another RBI single to bring them ahead 2-1 and score the final run of the game.
The Rams went into their second game of the day looking to turn it around. At the bottom of the first with two on and no outs, Melone was up. Melone delivered a sac fly to pull ahead 1-0. The Ram’s second plate appearance went similarly. A double from sophomore Zach Wright scored two runs to extend the lead 3-0. The Rams continued their offensive success scoring at least one run with every appearance.
Most of the damage was done in the bottom of the fifth inning where the Rams scored six of their 13 runs. Wright delivered again with a two run double scoring Hansen and Webb to start the inning off.
Feaster followed with a walk, leaving Horn up with two men on base. An RBI single from Horn scored Wright tallying another run for the Rams.
Three more runs were scored by the end of the inning thanks to a double from Melone, ground out from Zirolli and a triple from Cantwell.
Fisher allowed two hits and zero runs on the day.
The Rams will face the Bears again Sunday at 1 p.m. to continue the series.
Jordan Zimmerman is a second-year student majoring in respiratory care. JZ885480@wcupa.edu