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W 7-5 / L 4-3

Series Stats

EAST STROUDSBURG – East Stroudsburg University earned its first series win against West Chester since 2002 and reached 20 victories in the fewest number of games in school history with a 7-5 win in the first game of Sunday's PSAC East doubleheader at Mitterling Field.

The Warriors (20-7, 6-4) won the series, 3-1, after West Chester (15-17, 6-10) won the second game 4-3 to avoid the sweep. ESU won both games on Saturday, 7-2 and 6-2, behind standout pitching performances by redshirt senior Jeremy Gigliotti and redshirt sophomore Andy Noga for its first two-game sweep at West Chester since 2001. (Sunday recap)

ESU improved to 20-6 after the victory in the opener, hitting the 20-win plateau seven games faster than any other team in school history in a season that has also seen the Warriors achieve their first-ever national ranking.

Freshman Keenan Stare struck out three of the four batters he faced to seal the victory and earn his first career save in relief of sophomore Colin Kelly (5.1 IP, 5 hits, 4 runs), who didn't allow a hit until the fourth inning to improve to 4-0, and freshman Keith Moyer, who got the second out in the sixth inning.

The offense did the rest, getting things going early with a five-run first inning after the first five batters reached base. Sophomore 1B Brian Ernst, ESU's leading hitter in the series (7-for-13, seven RBI), had a two-run single after junior SS Evan Gallagher and junior 2B Ryan Guarino singled and redshirt junior 3B Jake Griesemer was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Freshman CF Chris Knott had an RBI groundout and freshman OF Matt Bahnick had an RBI single later in the frame.

ESU plated another run in the second on an RBI double by Guarino, who was 2-for-2 with a walk, an RBI and a run in the No. 2 spot in the order.

While the bats sparked the Warriors to a 6-0 lead, Kelly and the defense held West Chester scoreless for the first three innings. He walked the leadoff hitter in the first inning, then retired the next 10 batters he faced before Joe Wendle collected his team's first hit with a one-out single in the fourth. Knott made two outstanding diving catches in center field while the no-hitter was still in progress.

The Golden Rams scored twice after Wendle's single in the fourth and added three more in the sixth, but Stare closed the door after entering with runners on first and second in a 7-5 game. The freshman struck out Justin Lamborn to end the sixth inning, then fanned the first two hitters in the seventh before getting a groundout to close the game.

Jordan Lehman (2.0 IP, 6 runs, 6 hits) took the loss for West Chester and John Barr walked two, didn't allow a hit and gave up an unearned run in 4.0 innings in relief.

In the second game, West Chester took the lead for good on Wendle's two-out, two-run single that put the Golden Rams ahead 3-1 in the third inning.

ESU battled back, pulling within 4-2 on an RBI single by freshman C Eric Forth in the bottom of the fourth and 4-3 on an RBI infield single by Bahnick in the sixth, but Conor Kerins earned the save with 2.0 innings of relief work after pitching around a two-out walk in the seventh. Anthony Clemens was the winning pitcher, allowing three runs (one earned) on four hits in 5.0 innings.

Junior Ryan Beck struck out five, walked four and yielded four runs (three earned) on two hits in his first start of the season for the Warriors. Freshman Colin Taylor (2.0 IP, 2 hits, 1 strikeout) and sophomore Mike Glassic (2.0 IP, 3 strikeouts) combined for 4.0 innings of scoreless relief.

The Warriors' pitching staff, anchored by Gigliotti and Noga, once again came up big in a conference series, holding West Chester to 13 runs and a .198 batting average in the four-game series. ESU also committed just four errors and had a .966 fielding percentage after entering the week ranked ninth in Division II at .972.

In the first 10 conference games, ESU has a 2.35 ERA, 68 strikeouts and 14 walks in 69.0 innings of work and has allowed more than two runs in just three games. Gigliotti and Noga are both 2-1 with three complete games and ERA's under 1.30 – Gigliotti is at 0.86 with Noga just behind at 1.29.

Offensively, the Warriors hit .319 and scored 23 runs in the series led by Ernst in the cleanup spot. An All-PSAC East utility selection last season, Ernst was 7-for-13 with three walks, seven RBI and four runs and went 5-for-7 with a double, home run and five RBI in Saturday's sweep at West Chester.

Forth hit .500 (4-for-8) with two RBI, Guarino was 4-for-11 with three walks and Bahnick, sophomore Evan Cain and sophomore Tom Spilatore were all 3-for-10. Ten of the 11 players who saw action had at least three hits as the Warriors collected 38 hits in four games.

ESU is slated to travel to Mansfield to finish its series on Wednesday at 1 p.m. The Mounties took the first two games last Sunday, 2-0 and 2-1, but were unable to play a home game until today when they split a twinbill with Kutztown. The Warriors face Bloomsburg in a four-game conference series next weekend.


Warriors Notes
* The victory in the first game was the 99th career win for head coach John Kochmansky, last year's PSAC East Coach of the Year. Kochmansky has a 99-76 record in four seasons and ranks third in career wins at ESU.
* Earlier this season, ESU went 3-1 against Kutztown for its first series win since 2000. West Chester and Kutztown have both made the PSAC Tournament every season since 2005.
* The Warriors are also closing in on the 1,000th win in program history. ESU is one game above .500 – 995-994-25 – in its 82nd season of varsity baseball.