The Golden Rams swept division opponent Mansfield University over the weekend, and slugged their way past Lincoln University to improve their record to 22-8 overall and 11-1 in the division.In game one on Saturday, West Chester defeated the Mansfield University Mountaineers 3-1 and in game two the Golden Rams dominated Mansfield defeating them 12-5.
Senior pitcher David Slusser pitched a one-hit complete game in the first game. The only hit allowed was a solo homerun to Chris Miller in the bottom of the second inning. West Chester jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead in the first inning and never looked back. Matt Cotellese delivered the first run on an RBI groundout, Blair Dameron hammered home his second homerun of the season and Bob Stumpo hit a homerun in the second inning to help the Golden Rams to the victory.
In game two, Kyle Orensky hit his team leading sixth homerun of the season, this one of the grand slam variety, to power West Chester past the Mountaineers. Bret Moyer picked up his fifth victory of the season as he went five innings. Closer Eric Carmichael pitched two innings to help the Golden Rams cruise to the victory.
In game one of Friday’s doubleheader against Mansfield, second baseman Joe Wendle scored the game-winning run by stealing home in the fifth inning which lifted the Golden Rams to a 4-3 victory. It was a tie game through five innings when Wendle doubled over the centerfielders head with one out. Stumpo was then hit by a pitch placing runners on first and second. Charlie Kelly grounded into a fielder’s choice, leaving Wendle at third and Kelly on first base with two outs.
While Kelly took off for second base as a decoy, Wendle read the play perfectly and raced home to score the winning run. Jason Bowman started for the Rams’ throwing six innings, giving up eight hits and three runs while striking out two batters. Carmichael pitched a scoreless seventh inning and received his fourth save of the season. Wendle finished 2-for-3; Orensky and Josh Heyne drove in runs.
West Chester beat Mansfield University in game two of Friday’s doubleheader by a score of 7-1. Connor Kerins shut down Mansfield’s offense and pitched six and 1/3 strong innings to earn himself his fourth win of the season. Kerins gave up just four hits and one run while striking out three and walking one.
Billy Huntzinger came on in relief in the sixth inning; he threw just one pitch that resulted in a game ending double play. Mansfield scratched across their only run of the game in the top of the third inning on two hits. In the home half of the third inning West Chester struck back with five runs of their own.
The Golden Rams tacked on two more runs in the fifth and sixth innings. Nick Spisak finished 1-for-2 with a two-run homerun and a sac fly. Chris Kelly was 1-for-3 and knocked in two runs. Cotellese, Dameron, Kyle Orensky and Joe Wendle each had an RBI in game two.
West Chester’s bats came alive Wednesday afternoon as they cruised passed Lincoln University 21-3. In the bottom half of the second inning the Golden Rams took advantage of five straight walks to start the inning. With the bases loaded Cotellese hit a bases clearing double to start the rally, two batters later Orensky hit an RBI double of his own.
The Golden Rams batted around scoring eleven runs on four hits to lead the contest 12-0 after two innings. Cotellese got things going again in the fourth inning, leading off with a solo homerun. Later in the inning freshman Matt Baer hit a grand slam, which was his first collegiate homerun. Orensky slugged his team leading fifth homerun of the season and ended the day driving in three runs.
Greg Ball picked up the win pitching one inning and striking out one batter. The Golden Rams sent out six other pitchers to throw one inning each in Wednesdays win. Lincoln University’s offense was limited to just three runs on four hits.
West Chester has won 16 out of its last 17 games; head coach Greg Mamula commented on his team’s early success by saying, “We have a good baseball team that is playing well in all facets of the game. Our solid pitching and defense has been putting us in position to win games and our offense is starting to respond. We still have room to grow as a team – particularly from an offensive standpoint. Our offense will only get better as the weather warms up.”
The West Chester Golden Rams play host to Widener University on Wednesday at 3:30 p.m., and on Friday they will be in Kutztown to take on a familiar division foe in a doubleheader. Saturday the Rams come back home to face the Kutztown Golden Bears in a doubleheader at Serpico Stadium, game one starts at 1 p.m.
Steven Fisher is a second-year student majoring in communications with a minor in Journalism. He can be reached at SF674180@wcupa.edu.