Box Scores
W 4-3 / L 6-4
EAST STROUDSBURG - East Stroudsburg University rallied for a 4-3 win in the opener and West Chester took the nightcap, 6-4, to split the first half of this weekend's PSAC East series on Friday at Mitterling Field.
The Warriors (15-12, 1-5 PSAC East) scored twice in the bottom of the seventh inning to win game one as freshman SS Evan Gallagher drove in junior C Brendan O'Connor for the winning run. In the second game, ESU took a 3-0 lead in the first inning before West Chester (15-8, 5-1) scored two runs each in the third, fourth and fifth frames to earn the split.
In the opener, ESU's Jeremy Gigliotti and WCU's Jason Bowman both put zeroes on the board through the first three innings before the Golden Rams threatened in the fourth. Kyle Orensky drew a two-out walk and tried to score on a double to right field by Joe Wendle but was thrown out at the plate by freshman 2B Ryan Guarino.
Senior 3B Mark Angelo gave the Warriors a 2-0 lead with his third home run of the year in the bottom of the inning after senior OF Mike Bortz led off the inning with a walk.
Gigliotti ran into some hard luck in the top of the fifth as West Chester put three runs on the board. He issued a one-out walk, then got a double-play ball that hit the field umpire, creating a dead ball situation that put runners at first and second. Kevin McGrath was hit by a pitch to load the bases, Nick Spisak lifted a sacrifice fly to right and Matt Cotellese doubled to score two more runs and give the Golden Rams a 3-2 edge.
In the bottom of the seventh, junior DH John Pisker started the rally with a single and was replaced by freshman Carey Zimmerman. O'Connor laid down a sacrifice bunt down the third base line and Zimmerman beat the throw to second to put the tying run 180 feet away and the winning run on base.
Both runners moved up on a wild pitch, and freshman 2B Ryan Guarino grounded out to short that scored Zimmerman, moved O'Connor to third and tied the game at 3-3. Gallagher followed with a ground ball up the middle and O'Connor beat the throw home for the winning run.
Junior Christian Saveri got credit for the win after throwing a perfect seventh inning. Gigliotti went the first 6.0 innings and threw five scoreless frames, allowing only the three runs in the fifth. Bowman went the distance for West Chester and falls to 1-3 on the season despite a 2.76 earned run average.
In the second game, ESU jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning sparked by an RBI triple from Bortz following a leadoff single by Zimmerman. Bortz scored when Angelo reached on an error, senior OF Kevin Thompson and Pisker both singled, and Thompson eventually came home on a wild pitch with the third run of the inning.
West Chester got two runs back with two outs in the third, then took the lead in the fourth when Charlie Kelly singled and scored on a pair of wild pitches and Spisak singled to plate McGrath, who walked earlier in the inning. Senior Jason Colletti replaced sophomore Tom Admire and got the final out but was hit for two runs in the fifth as the Golden Rams used a walk, two hits and an error to take a 6-3 advantage.
O'Connor cut the deficit to 6-4 with a two-out single that scored Zsenak in the sixth, but the Warriors couldn't do any damage after Zimmerman's one-out hit in the seventh as Eric Carmichael recorded his third save of the season for West Chester.
Starter Connor Kerins logged 6.0 innings and got the win for the Golden Rams. ESU sent four pitchers to the mound in Admire, Colletti, Saveri and junior Anthony Clemens. Saveri struck out two to strand Cotellese at third after a leadoff triple in the sixth inning, while Clemens didn't allow a hit in the top of the seventh.
ESU and West Chester will meet again on Saturday to wrap up the season series. The Warriors were swept by defending PSAC champion Kutztown last weekend, while West Chester, the preseason PSAC East favorite, took all four games from Millersville.
