JAMESTOWN, NY – The WSSU Rams battled dramatically, but fell in the opening round of the Atlantic Regional of the NCAA Division II Baseball Tournament, 5-4 to the #2 seed, West Chester. The Winston-Salem State Rams (35-18), the #7 seed, had some miscues cost them against the #2 seed, West Chester in the loss.
West Chester got on the scoreboard first, in the second inning, when Drew Jarmuz hit a sacrifice fly to center field, that allowed Shane Dressler to score from third, giving the Golden Rams an early 1-0 advantage.
West Chester put up two more runs in the fourth, when Drew Jarmuz came to the plate and hit a two–run home run to deep left center, to give the Golden Rams a 3-0 lead.
WSSU finally would be able to get on the board in the sixth inning, when Brandon Ford doubled to right center, allowing John Garcia to cross the plate to get the Rams on the scoreboard.
In the bottom of the sixth, West Chester’s Drew Jarmuz reach on a fielding error by Brandon Ford, allowing Shane Dressler to score, giving the Golden Rams a 4-1 lead.
Winston-Salem State answered in the top of the seventh when Randal Ortiz singled past third base to start the inning. With two outs, Ortiz advanced to second on a wild pitch and kept going, scoring all the way from first base on an error by the third baseman.
In the bottom half of the inning, Jared Melone singled through the right side, scoring Nick Ward to give West Chester a 5-2 lead.
The WSSU Rams made the game interesting in the eighth inning, when Brandon Ford reached on a fielding error by the second baseman, allowing Randy Norris to come around to score. And Ivan Acuna, singled to right field, scoring Brandon Ford to make it a one run game, at 5-4. The WSSU Rams would not be able to score again, and eventually would fall, 5-4 to #2 West Chester
Landon Steiner went two for three, while Brandon Ford went two for four with a run scored and one run driven in. Randy Norris and John Garcia each went two for five with a run scored and Randal Ortiz went one for three with a run scored.
Seth Reeves took the loss for WSSU, pitching 5.2 innings, giving up four runs on four hits, with four walks and five strikeouts. Garrison Roy pitched 1.1 innings out of the bullpen, allowing two hits and one run, and Kanoa Hironaka threw one inning out the pen, with one strikeout.
Courtesy: WSSU Athletics
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