No. 17 West Chester Sews Up PSAC East With Split Against Bloomsburg

The following is a press release from the West Chester University Athletic Department.

West Chester scored 10 runs in the fifth inning of game two to earn a split of its PSAC East baseball doubleheader against visiting Bloomsburg and clinch the division crown on an overcast and damp afternoon at Serpico Stadium.
 
Bloomsburg (25-20, 12-12 PSAC East) took game one from West Chester (32-9, 16-8) by a score of 8-3. However, the Huskies could not hold a 4-0 lead in the second game as the Golden Rams sent 15 batters to the plate during a 10-run fifth that was enough to secure the win, 10-6.
 
West Chester scored all its runs in that frame. Junior third baseman Justin Lamborn hit a grand slam and singled in a run his next time up, recording five RBI in the inning. Sophomore first baseman Chris Pula knocked in three runs with a pair of run-scoring singles in his two at bats in the fifth. He singled in a run his first time up and then brought home two more with a single his second trip to the dish.
 
Pula finished 3-for-3. Mike Raimo, Jack Provine, Jordan Wlodarczyk and Josh Heyne all contributed a pair of hits. Joe Wendle scored twice, being intentionally walked each time up in the fifth.
 
Matt McAllister (4-0) threw three innings in relief to record the win. He scattered four hits and surrendered two runs while walking four. Jordan Lehman started and pitched the first four innings. He allowed three earned runs on nine hits and struck out two.
 
Bloomsburg jumped out to an 8-0 lead thanks to a five-run fourth inning in the opener. Raimo hit a RBI single in the fifth, and Pula smashed a two-run home run in the sixth. But, West Chester could not muster any more offense.
 
Dave Stieg (3-3) suffered the loss on the hill. He surrendered eight runs on 10 hits. Only four of those runs were earned as the Golden Rams committed two errors behind Stieg.
 
With the win, West Chester finishes the regular-season as PSAC Eastern Division champions and secures the top seed out of the East in the upcoming PSAC Tournament. The Golden Rams will play Slippery Rock (fourth seed out of the Western Division) in the first round on Wednesday, May 2 at 12:30 p.m. at Pullman Park in Butler, Pa.

West Chester closes its regular-season slate on Monday afternoon at Serpico Stadium with a non-league tilt against Philadelphia University at 3 p.m.
 
NOTES: West Chester wins the PSAC Eastern Division for the third time in the last four years … this year’s senior class becomes the first to win three division titles during their college careers … all three division titles were won with a different head coach at the helm of the Golden Rams … head coach Jad Prachniak leads WCU to the division title in his first year as a college baseball head coach … West Chester also won the division title one year after finishing in last place, completing the worst-to-first trick for the second time in school history.