The Quad

Issue date: 4/2/07 Section: Sports

West Chester Golden Rams baseball took a step backward going 3-4 in a stretch of five days as WCU seesawed between excellence and vulnerability.

West Chester led the week at home versus Indiana University of Pennsylvania in a doubleheader. At the onset of the week, West Chester entered ranked No. 18 in Division II baseball only behind Kutztown in the region.

In the first game, the Hawks' Brian Armour pitched a near flawless 5 and 1/3 innings yielding only three Ram hits. The only run in the game came off an error in the fourth by West Chester reliever Eric Carmichael who came on to relieve Ryan Gerber.

Following Armour, Corey Betts pitched the conclusion of the game sealing the deal 1-0 and picking up the save.

In the second game, IUP came in and continued strong, pitching their starter into the sixth Inning.

Trailing 5-2 in the bottom of the seventh inning, West Chester's bats finally heated up and the Hawks' gloves froze as they committed two errors in the frame.

After Mark Gilliford's RBI plated shortstop Nick Spisak, Drew Pare, with the bases loaded, doubled home two runs tying the game at 5-5. This set the stage for Kevin McGrath who scored Charlie Kelly after a hot shot to third, resulted in a fielding error. West Chester walked off for the second time at home this season.

On Wednesday, West Chester finally played Shippensburg University at Serpico Stadium after two previous games were cancelled due in part to unplayable field conditions.

West Chester sent pitcher James Rundatz to the mound who pitched an effective six innings yielding only one earned run.

West Chester manufactured four early runs, three off the bat of Matt Cotellese.

However, in the eighth inning Shippensburg loaded the bases with two outs. Due to a West Chester error, Shippensburg's inning was allowed to continue as they scored seven runs.

In the bottom of that frame, Brandon Wolfe knocked in a run on a single up the middle, but West Chester could not muster anymore offense and ultimately fell 8-5.

On Friday and Saturday, West Chester took on the Mansfield Mountaineers in a four game series split with two games in Mansfield and two in West Chester.

In the first game at Mansfield, Frank Gailey dominantly pitched a wire to wire shutout for his third win the season. Gailey allowed only six hits.

West Chester plated 17 runs in the game behind Gilliford and Spisak who had three hits a piece and McGrath who knocked in three runs.

Continued...

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