Box Scores
L 4-3 (8 inn.)
L 14-6

WEST CHESTER – Senior catcher Steven Zimmerman, Jr. tied East Stroudsburg University's career home run record, but defending NCAA Division II champion West Chester took both ends of a PSAC East doubleheader, 4-3 (8 inn.) and 14-6, to open this weekend's four-game series on Saturday.

ESU (13-9, 3-3), which opened divisional play with 3-of-4 at Mansfield last weekend, is scheduled to host the second half of the series on Monday at Mitterling Field.

West Chester (14-6, 3-3), which dropped 3-of-4 vs. Lock Haven last weekend, rebounded with a walk-off win in the opener on a two-out RBI single by Joey Coyle and a complete game effort by Mike Cipolla (8.0 IP, 3 runs, 8 hits, 7 strikeouts, 0 walks).

WCU scored 14 runs on 11 hits, four walks and three hit batters in the nightcap, including a five-run first and three-run third. The Golden Rams put it away with five in the sixth.

Zimmerman hit his 19th career homer in the third inning of game two, tying the school record set by All-America outfielder and MLB Draft choice Chris Knott (2011-14).

A two-time All-PSAC East selection at catcher, including first team last year, Zimmerman hit nine homers as a sophomore on ESU's school-record 38-win team in 2016, seven last season and has three this spring. He is hitting .343/.467/.600 through 22 games. He also hit the 100-RBI mark for his career.

Sophomore OF Carson Freeman homered in both games for ESU, going 4-for-7 with four RBI.

Zimmerman was 3-for-6 with a double, homer, walk, HBP, 2 RBI and 2 runs. Redshirt junior 1B Mike Sulcoski was 3-for-4 with a double and run in game two.

Jon Hansen (4-for-8, 4 doubles, 4 RBI, 4 runs), Coyle (3-for-7, HR, 5 RBI) and Zach Sheranko (3-for-8, 2B, 5 RBI, 2 runs) led West Chester, which won its second national title in six years last season.

Game 1

Sophomore Connor Johnson (5.0 IP, 1 earned run, 3 hits, 8 strikeouts, 1 walk) had his third straight strong start, allowing just three earned runs in his last 15.0 innings.

ESU rallied to tie it after West Chester plated its first three runs, two unearned after a pair of Warriors errors, in the first inning.

Zimmerman tagged Cipolla, named ABCA All-Atlantic Region first team last year, for a leadoff double to open a three-run fourth for the Warriors. Freshman 3B Brock Kauffman followed with a single, redshirt junior DH Christian Rishel hit a two-RBI double before being thrown out stretching it to third, and Freeman drove a game-tying two-out homer to right field to make it 3-3.

ESU committed six errors – two in the first, three in the fifth and one in the eighth – with Johnson pitching out of the jam in the fifth to leave it 3-3 after his final inning of work.

Redshirt freshman Nate Fiala (1.2 IP, 0 runs) worked the sixth and the first part of the seventh for ESU before redshirt senior left-hander Mike Pepio got out of the seventh after a two-out single to force extra innings.

ESU got a leadoff single by Freeman and sacrifice bunt by sophomore SS Joey Paolini in the top of the eighth but couldn't push Freeman across.

After a leadoff error in the bottom half, erased by Zimmerman on a stolen base attempt, Hansen had a two-out double, Corey Webb walked and Coyle had the game-winning single to left.

Zimmerman was 2-for-4 with a double and run, and Freeman was 2-for-3 with the first of his two homers, for half of ESU's eight hits.

Game 2

West Chester led 5-0 after the first and 8-3 after three innings to get a jump on the doubleheader sweep.

Sheranko (2-RBI single), Hansen (RBI double) and Coyle (2-RBI single) contributed in the first, and Hansen (2-RBI double) and catcher Bill Ford (RBI single) had the run-scoring hits in the third.

ESU scored a two-out run in the second on a double by Sulcoski and RBI single by Freeman.

In the third, Zimmerman hit a two-run shot to center after junior OF Zarley Cina had a leadoff single to cut the margin to 5-3. The Warriors had a pair of two-out singles by Rishel and Sulcoski before Zach Rice (6.0 IP, 5 runs, 9 hits, 7 strikeouts, 3 walks) got out of the inning.

WCU All-America DH Shane Dressler doubled and scored on an RBI single by Drew Jarmuz in the fourth.

ESU got two in the top of the sixth to get it to 9-5, on a leadoff homer by Freeman and two-out RBI single by Kauffman, but WCU extended its lead with five in the bottom half with a two-RBI double by Hansen and two-run homer by Coyle.

ESU added one in the top of the seventh on singles by senior 1B Laine Renaud and Sulcoski and an RBI groundout by Freeman.