WEST CHESTER, Pa. — The ESU baseball team erupted for 14 runs in the Warriors' Atlantic Region Tournament opening win over Bloomsburg, defeating the Huskies, 14-5.
PITCHING NOTABLES
- Cole Dymek picked up his second win of the season, pitching the majority of the back half of the game. Going 3.1 IP, he only allowed two base runners as he struck out five on 50 pitches.
- Ryan Dewees started the game, making it through the first 4.0 IP. He picked up two strikeouts, as the Huskies tagged him for four earned runs.
- Jake Albert made his first appearance in a month and a half, pitching a scoreless ninth inning.
BATTING NOTABLES
- ESU had three batters get three hits, with Parker Frey leading the charge. Going 3-5 at the plate with a base on balls, he drove in four RBI and scored once, doing the bulk of his damage with a triple.
- Easton Albert and Cole Serfass rounded out the group, as Albert went 3-5 and Serfass was 3-6. They each scored three runs, as Albert also brought home two RBI.
- Troy Davis, Ryan Manning, and Walker Zampella all had multi-hit days at the plate as well, each recording two base hits. Zampella had three RBI, while Manning scored twice with an extra-base hit. Davis extended his team-lead in stolen bases with his 28th bag of the season.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Grant Russo got the Huskies going with a leadoff single to start the game, as Jace Jarmon followed up with a full-count walk to give Bloomsburg two baserunners with no outs. Justin Weaver, the DH, got his first RBI of the day with a single that scored Russo and put runners on the corners. Trommer laid down a bunt, reaching base and scoring Jarmon as Dewees and Frey both tried to play the ball. Casey O'Brien capped off the three-run first inning with another single through the right side of the infield, making it 3-0 before the Warriors came up to bat.
- After a slight adjustment to the lineup, Albert led off for ESU, working a walk to get things started. Davis hit a grounder to third base, but an errant throw to second allowed Albert to advance, giving the Warriors a runner in scoring position with no outs. Three batters later, with Frey up, runners on the corners, and two outs, the redshirt senior delivered with a single over the shortstop, scoring Albert and bumping Serfass to third. Manning kept the inning going, singling into left field to make it 3-2.
- ESU kept the bats going in the bottom of the third to take the lead and never looked back. Connor Reilly hit a two-run double that drove in Frey and Manning, as the Warriors made it 4-3 before recording an out. Reilly's double chased the Huskies' starter, Aiden Murphy, off the mound, with Pete Modrovsky coming in to replace him. Struggling to locate, he hit Braydon Hubbard with his first pitch, then walked Zander Condeelis on four pitches. Getting a strike on his eighth pitch and now facing Albert, the shortstop pulled a ball fair down the left field line, scoring the lead two runners for another two-RBI double. After a groundout by Davis, Zampella drove in both baserunners with a single through the left side to make it 8-3.
- After a one-out double and a pair of walks, Bloomsburg got two runs back in the top of the fourth on a single from Weaver to make it 8-5. Dewees got out of the inning, with ESU going to Caden Leonard out of the bullpen to start the fifth. He got the first two outs of the inning with a triple between them, but hit Matt Freda and walked Russo to load the bases. Dymek came in and got ESU out of the jam, getting Jarmon to ground out to third.
- As the Huskies squandered a bases-loaded opportunity to change the game, ESU effectively put the game out of reach in the bottom half of the inning. Zampella came up to bat with one out and Albert and Davis on base, singling to center field to score Albert. Serfass then hit a ball over the infield, but shallow enough to hold Davis at third, bringing Frey up to the plate with three runners on. He mashed a ball into the right-center field gap, scoring all three on his third triple of the season to make it 12-5.
- As Dymek cruised through the Bloomsburg lineup, ESU would add two more to its lead in the bottom of the seventh before Albert came in to handle the ninth inning. After winning a seven-pitch at-bat for his first out, he retired the rest of the side in three pitches.
UP NEXT
After West Chester eliminated Bloomsburg Thursday evening in a 14-5 win, the regional shifts to a best-of-three series between the Warriors and Golden Rams. They'll play at noon tomorrow at Serpico Stadium, with game two starting at 11 a.m. on Saturday morning. The third game, if necessary, is projected to start at 2 p.m. after game two.
