WEST CHESTER, Pa. – The Kutztown University baseball team won its fourth game this season over a nationally-ranked opponent, coming back from a six-run deficit in game two to earn a split versus the No. 17-ranked West Chester University Golden Rams on the road. KU fell in game one, 10-3, but claimed the victory in the second game, 7-6. 
 
After falling in a one-sided opener, the Maroon and Gold continued to struggle in the second game, not registering a hit through the first four innings and staring at a 6-0 deficit. Most teams would've packed it in, looking to move on to tomorrow after a tough day, but this was far from the case for head coach Chris Blum's Golden Bears.
 
The Golden Rams opened the door a crack for KU to begin the fifth as Nick Lafferty (Croydon, Pa./Archbishop Wood) reached on an errant throw by the WCU catcher after a dropped third strike. A Collin Bishop (Laurel Springs, N.J./Highland Regional) single put runners on first and second and a second Golden Ram error, this time on a ball put in play by Mike Villa (Scranton, Pa./West Scranton (Lackawanna)), allowed Lafferty to score Kutztown's first run. Zack Delp (Whitehall, Pa./Whitehall) then came to the plate and West Chester committed its third error of the inning on a grounder to shortstop from Delp, scoring Bishop to make it 6-2.  
 
A Brady Carras (Coatesville, Pa./Coatesville Area) RBI double to right field gave the Maroon and Gold their third run of the inning, getting the rally moving with still no one out in the fifth. Delp came home on a wild pitch after Mike Weber (Oxford, Pa./Oxford Area) reached on a walk, who was then followed by Bo Rottet (Tamaqua, Pa./Tamaqua), who was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Back-to-back RBI groundouts from Tanner Miller (Elizabethville, Pa./Upper Dauphin Area) and Ryan Cox (Aliquippa, Pa./Hopewell (St. Bonaventure)) tied it up at 6-all, but KU needed one clutch two-out hit to take the lead in what proved to be its only opportunity in the game. 
 
Lafferty made the most of it, singling back up the middle, to score Rottet, giving Kutztown the 7-6 lead to cap the dramatic comeback. Stephen Wagner Jr. (Henderson, Nev./Boulder City (Western Oregon)), who performed admirably after giving up six runs in the first two innings, retired West Chester in order in the bottom half of the fifth and sixth innings before giving way to Gavilan Fogarty-Harnish (Ephrata, Pa./Ephrata) for the save opportunity.
 
Fogarty-Harnish finished off the dramatic, come-from-behind victory for Wagner Jr. (1-3) and KU, allowing one baserunner before retiring WCU to earn his fourth save of the season. 
 
Cox's on-base streak came to an end at 28 straight games in game one as he only reached once in the game on a fielder's choice. According to NCAA scoring rules, reaching base by a fielder's choice or an error does not extend this type of streak.
 
Game One
With Michael Hunter (Mertztown, Pa./Brandywine Heights (Marist)) on the mound to open the series, WCU, much like the Golden Bears in the second contest, took advantage of a KU error to get its offense going. Hunter hit the first Golden Ram he faced in bottom of the second and the next batter to the plate reached via a Kutztown miscue in left field, putting runners on first and third with no one out. 
 
Back-to-back RBI singles allowed two West Chester runs to score, staking it to an early 2-0 lead. WCU really broke it open, however, a short time later with a three-run home run to complete its five-run second, pulling ahead 5-0 after 2.0 innings. 
 
The Maroon and Gold were able to answer in the top of the third, loading the bases with one out in the frame. RBI by Cox, Lafferty and Villa plated three runs for the Golden Bears as they cut their deficit to two, trailing 5-3 heading into the last half of the third inning. 
 
For West Chester, starter Jon Fisher settled down after a rocky fourth, allowing four of the five total hits he surrendered in that frame. Fisher (3-2) picked up the complete game victory, going 7.0 innings and giving up three earned runs while striking out six. 
 
Fisher enjoyed some insurance provided by the Golden Ram offense in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings, scoring a combined total of five more runs in those three frames. With this comfortable lead in hand, ahead by five after 4.0 innings, WCU dispatched Kutztown in game one by a 10-3 final score. 
 
Hunter (4-2) took the loss for KU, allowing nine runs, five of which were earned, and scattering seven hits in 4.0 innings. 
 
Game Two
Wagner Jr. ran into some trouble to open the game after Kutztown went down in order against WCU's Zach Rice in the top-half of the first inning. The first three batters in the West Chester lineup reached base finished off by a two-RBI double to put it ahead 2-0. Wagner Jr. got the next two outs in the frame, but another two-run double gave the Golden Rams a 4-0 advantage after one. 
 
The Golden Rams added to their lead in the second, scoring two more in the frame to go ahead 6-0. On the mound, Rice was cruising for West Chester through the first 4.0 innings, retiring 12 straight KU batters to begin the game. Wagner Jr. also began to settle in, allowing just two hits and no runs in the third and fourth innings. 
 
This all set the stage for the Maroon and Gold's opportunistic fifth inning as they plated seven runs on three WCU errors. Wagner Jr. and Fogarty-Harnish held WCU off the board in their final three at-bats, allowing the Golden Bears to snatch a victory from the jaws of defeat. 
 
Wagner Jr. secured his first collegiate victory as Kutztown (14-15, 8-10 PSAC) now has the chance tomorrow for its first series defeat of West Chester (23-10, 12-6) since 2011. 
 
First pitch between WCU and KU from North Campus Field will be at 1 p.m.