CARY, N.C. — One big inning was all the West Chester baseball team needed to get off to a winning start at the Division II championship.
The Golden Rams put their first five batters on base in the first inning and all eventually came around to score in a 12-3 opening round victory against the University of Indianapolis at the USA Baseball National Training Complex on Friday.
Ace Julian Costa didn’t have his best stuff on the mound, but he battled through seven innings while his offense pounded out 14 hits to earn a date against UT Tyler on Sunday (6 p.m., ncaa.com) in the winner’s bracket of the double-elimination tournament.
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“Our guys all do our homework, so we knew what we were getting and were just looking to be aggressive early,” said catcher Caleb Strawhecker, who in addition to going 3-for-5 with two RBIs and two runs scored at the plate, threw out two would-be UIndy base stealers. “Putting up a lot of runs on the board was the goal and luckily we were able to do that.”
The Rams (45-10) wasted little time establishing their dominance against the overmatched Greyhounds, who advanced to Cary, N.C. by winning the Midwest region.
Carter Rust hit a leadoff single in the first inning and scored on a double by Strawhecker, who then came around on a single by Austin Stalker. After Hunter Smith walked and a perfectly placed bunt single by Patrick Gozdan loaded the bases, Tanner Donati made it 3-0 with an RBI single before two more runs scored on a double-play grounder by Harry Middlebrooks and a single by No. 8 hitter Christian Michak.
“It was a good complete game effort,” West Chester coach Mike LaRosa said. “Jumping out to a 5-0 lead in the first. Give Costa a five spot and I think everybody feels confident from there on that we’ve got an opportunity to take that game.”
As it turned out, the first inning outburst was enough for the Rams to win the game. But it wasn’t as easy even with their best arm on the mound.
The senior left-hander Costa wasn’t as sharp as he was when he held Millersville without a hit into the seventh in last week’s NCAA Atlantic Super Regional. While he gave up 10 hits and walked two, he always seemed to make the right pitches at the right times to wiggle out of trouble.
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The only runs he allowed were a second inning homer to Brayton Bowen and an RBI single by Austin Bode in the fourth.
Not only did Costa leave the bases loaded twice on the way to his 13th win in 14 decisions this season, he started the game by picking off the first two UIndy runners to reach base in the top of the first. Strawhecker also helped him out by throwing out two more runners trying to steal second.
“It was a little [difficult] location-wise at the start of the game,” said Costa, who struck out seven. “Around the third inning was when I started extending my legs and worked on the mound, and everything came together.”
West Chester added to its lead with a run in the fifth, then broke the game open late with two in the seventh and three more in the eighth on a three-run homer to left center by Rust. UIndy (39-23) got its final run in the ninth off the Rams’ bullpen.
“After the pickoffs happened [in the top of the first], we all just laughed to ourselves and said ‘We’re good now,’” Strawhecker said. “Then it was just getting back to business, getting outs and playing our game.”
