West Chester Sweeps No. 10 East Stroudsburg; Claims Season Series
WEST CHESTER, PA – Evan Profy (Croydon, Pa./Harry S. Truman) laced a base-hit with the bases loaded through a drawn-in infield in the bottom of the seventh inning for a walk-off win in game one. Then, Casey Vaughan came up with a triple down the right-field line with the bases loaded in the bottom of the first of game two as host West Chester swept a conference doubleheader from No. 10 East Stroudsburg Saturday afternoon at Serpico Stadium.
West Chester (35-7, 21-7 PSAC East) drew closer to idle Millersville for second place in the Eastern Division standings of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference. East Stroudsburg (35-9, 23-5) remains in first place.
Casey Vaughan (Springfield, Pa./Springfield) led off the seventh with a single up the middle off reliever Nick McAuliffe. Mark Elliott (Somers Point, N.J./Mainland Regional) pinch ran for him. Julia Costa (Mantua, N.J./Clearview) then walked and was pinch ran for by John Dunion (Wilmington, Del./Salesianum). A passed ball moved up both pinch runners, and ESU brought the infield in. Zack Miles (Hatfield, Pa./North Penn) grounded out to second for the first out of the inning, and both runners held. That's when Profy pulled a ball in between first and second base that got through for the game-winning hit.
The RBI single made a winner out of Dylan Howanitz (Archbald, Pa./Valley View), who improved to 4-0 on the year.
Starters Gavin Sopko and Joe Sperone (Broomall, Pa./Cardinal O'Hara) matched each other pitch-for-pitch through five innings. East Stroudsburg scored one run in the top of the first, and West Chester scratched one across in the bottom of the second. That's how things stayed until the Golden Rams broke through in the seventh.
In the nightcap, West Chester scored five in the bottom of the first and took control of the game early. East Stroudsburg starter, Peyton Brannock, retired the first two batters he faced. However, three walks and a hit by pitch followed, and the Golden Rams had one run across and the bases loaded.
That's when Vaughan dropped a single down the right-field line that was fair by only inches. All three base runners came around to score, and Vaughan ran home when ESU's right fielder threw wild to third trying to get Vaughan.
West Chester added one in the fourth to make it 6-0. ESU got that run back in the top of the fifth, making it a 6-1 ballgame. However, the Golden Rams responded with a three-spot in their half of the sixth to jump in front 9-1. The Warriors scored an unearned run on starter Drew Simpson (Hockessin, Del./Delaware Military School) in the sixth. But that was all they could muster.
The Warriors dropped their first conference series of the season as the Golden Rams took three of four games over the weekend.
Game two's starting pitching matchup featured two true freshmen, who were high school teammates with Brannock facing Simpson. The Golden Rams' Simpson lasted five innings, scattering three hits, walking one and striking out four. He improved to 5-1 on the year. Brannock fell to 4-2 on the season in taking the loss.
Vaughan finished the game 2-for-4 with a pair of runs scored.
West Chester will host Millersville on Thursday in its final regular season home game at 1 p.m. at Serpico Stadium. The two teams will then finish their four-game season-ending conference series on Friday at Cooper Park in Millersville at 1 p.m.
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