WEST CHESTER – After West Chester rallied to steal the opener, the East Stroudsburg University baseball team picked up a 12-3 victory in game two to earn a split against the Golden Rams in a doubleheader on Saturday afternoon at Serpico Stadium.

The Warriors move to 26-12 on the season and 7-8 in the conference while the Golden Rams are now 20-9 overall and 9-6 in the conference.

In the opener, the Warriors were leading 6-1 following their at-bats in the top of the sixth but not before the Golden Rams tied the game in the home half of the inning. West Chester would ultimately win the game in the bottom of the seventh at 7-6 on a bases loaded wild pitch.

Redshirt senior Chase Nowak was credited with the no-decision after pitching 5.2 innings, allowing six runs (three earned) on seven hits while striking out six.

With the series finale tied at 3-3, the Warriors plated three runs in the seventh before tacking on six more in the eighth inning to make the final score 12-3.

Brent Francisco moved to 4-1 on the season after firing 6.0 innings, allowing three runs on six hits while striking out eight. Francisco leads the PSAC with 80 punchouts in 57.0 innings of work. Justin Guidos picked the save by pitching the final three innings, yielding two hits to go with four strikeouts.

Offensively, the Warriors were paced by Brainy Rojas as he finished 4-for-7 with three RBI, three runs, two walks and a stole base. Brock Kauffman, Ben Piripavel, Jeremy Piatkiewicz and Tim Haverstick each collected three hits while combining for nine RBI and 10 runs.

Notables

- Kauffman, who extended his team-best hitting streak to 12 games, picked up his 71st career extra-base hit which ranks him second in program history and 11 off the record.

- Rojas remained at fifth all-time for career runs add three at 147 and second in program history for stolen bases with 73.  

- Anthony Torreullas saw his 14-game on-base streak but Piripavel and Kauffman stretched theirs to 15 games

- The Warriors had three stolen bases to increase their season total to 106, which ranks second in the PSAC and fifth in all of NCAA Division II

- Head Coach John Kochmansky moves towards his 400th of his career win as he collected No. 395

How it Happened – Game One

The Warriors jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning using a trio of hits. Rojas got ESU started with a single and Piripavel followed with a base knock to put runners on the corner. Kauffman delivered by adding to his program record for RBI as the redshirt senior brought home the pair to put the Warriors up 2-0. After advancing to third on the play, Kauffman crossed the plate on a sacrifice fly from Torreullas.

With two outs in the bottom of the third inning, the Golden Rams got a run back to make the score 3-1 as Mike Ferrara produced an RBI single up the middle. Joe Kaleck got in scoring position after stealing second and advancing to third on an ESU error.

ESU took advantage of a West Chester error and used three hits to their edge to 6-1 in the top of the sixth inning. With one out and runners in scoring position, Jack Rothenhausler reached on a fielder's choice and a throwing error on the play by the Golden Rams allowed Kauffman and Piripavel to cross home plate. Then with two outs, Dunleavy singled to right field to put the Warriors up by five.

The Golden Rams answered in a big way during the home half of the inning as four hits and three errors by the Warriors led to five runs which tied the game at 6-6. Zack Miles cleared the bases with a single to get West Chester within one and Zack Wright evened the score on an infield base hit.

West Chester loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning and ultimately scored the game-winning run on a wild pitch.

How it Happened – Game Two

West Chester grabbed a 1-0 in the bottom of the first inning as Ferrara lofted a sacrifice fly to center field with runners on second and third to score the game's first run.

The Warriors responded in the top of the second as back-to-back walks by Haverstick and Tommy Ajjan to lead off the inning put ESU ahead 2-1. Rojas delivered the running scoring hit for ESU with a double down the left field line to plate the pair.

ESU tacked on a run during their at-bats in the top of the fourth as Dunleavy led off with a double before Haverstick followed with another two bagger to make the score 3-1.

With two outs in the home half of the inning, the Golden Rams tied the game as a wild pitch, followed by a single to left center field from Corey Stouffer evened the score at 3-3.

The Warriors regained a 6-3 led in top of the seventh inning as a trio of hits and a West Chester error led to three runs. With Haverstick and Piatkiewicz on the corners, Rojas grounded a ball to the shortstop before he made a throwing error, which allowed a run to score. Piripavel recorded an RBI ground out to put ESU up 5-3 and Kauffman capped of the frame with a triple to plate Rojas.

ESU put the game out of reach with six runs on four hits to ultimately make the final score 12-3. Tommy Ajjan singled through the right side to score Dunleavy, who reached on a fielding error and Piatkiewicz followed suit to put ESU ahead by five. With the bases loaded, Piripavel drove in a pair on a base hit to center field and Torreullas cleared the bases for the Warriors' 12th run.

Up Next

The Warriors are back at Creekview Park on Wednesday, April 20 for a non-conference game against Felician at 3 p.m.