HTML Box Scores: Game 1 | Game 2 WEST CHESTER, Pa. – The Kutztown University baseball team is still looking for its spark in conference play, as it dropped 6-2 and 6-3 decisions to West Chester University on Monday afternoon in a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Eastern Division doubleheader from Serpico Field.
The Golden Bears (9-5, 1-5 PSAC East) opened the season 8-0 against non-conference competition, but have yet to hit its stride in its opening two PSAC matchups. They out-hit the Golden Rams (6-5, 4-2) in game one, 7-6, but defensive errors ultimately made the difference in both games.
Notably, eight of West Chester's 12 runs on the day were unearned.
Brady McNab went 4-for-7 with two multi-hit games. He notched a RBI single in the late innings of game two and is hitting a career-high .457 this year.
Brandon Martinez also had four hits on the day, highlighted by a 3-for-3 opener at the plate. He scored two of Kutztown's five runs on the day and added a stolen base.
West Chester led 4-0 through two innings of the opener. It homered in the first inning, but all three of its runs in the second inning were unearned with two outs.
Martinez's stolen base in the fourth set up
Brandon Hickey's RBI single to put KU on the board, but a sacrifice fly and a fourth unearned run put West Chester's lead back to 6-1. Hickey finished 2-for-3 in the opener.
Bobby Reddick was tabbed with the loss as he allowed five hits and six runs – two earned – in four innings.
Alec Jacob and
Peter Masterson combined to allow one hit in the final two scoreless innings.
West Chester's Erie Close won his first game of the year with six innings of work and five strikeouts.
Kutztown jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the first inning of the nightcap off a RBI single from
Matthew Armour.
KU left-hander
Paul Piromalli kept West Chester off the board for the first two innings, but the home team struck for five runs through the middle two innings to command a 5-1 lead. WCU knocked a two-run single up the middle with two outs in the third, and a dropped fly ball by KU in the fourth inning led to three more unearned runs.
Two runs scored on a two-out single by McNab in the fifth to cut KU's deficit to two, but it was the final runs KU would score as West Chester capped the scoring with a fourth unearned run of the game in the bottom half of the fifth.
Piromalli had four strikeouts but was tabbed with his first loss of the season after starting 2-0.
Eric Hartranft pitched the fifth inning and allowed an unearned run, and
Cameron Mathis pitched a 1-2-3 sixth inning in relief.
West Chester's Nick Stallings threw a complete game in the nightcap and allowed six hits with seven strikeouts and two walks.
Kutztown returns to West Chester on Tuesday, March 24 to wrap-up the four-game series at 1 p.m. KU will be the home team.
