No. 8/10 West Chester wasted no time getting back on track Saturday, overpowering Wheeling 14-4 in Cary, N.C. The Golden Rams shook off an early deficit with seven unanswered runs before breaking the game open with a seven-run eighth inning, highlighted by a grand slam from Sean Szestowicki.
Wheeling grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first, but West Chester quickly responded. Ben Bolhouse tied the game with an RBI single, and Caleb Strawhecker’s RBI double in the fourth put the Rams ahead for good. Strawhecker added a sacrifice fly in the sixth, and West Chester tacked on three more in the seventh before Wheeling cut the deficit to 7-4 with a three-run eighth.
The Rams put the game out of reach in the bottom half, capitalizing on walks and errors before Szestowicki’s grand slam put the exclamation point on the rout.
West Chester tallied 14 runs on 10 hits, led by multi-hit performances from Szestowicki, Stalker, and Strawhecker. Kyle Lazer (2-0) earned the win with six strong innings, allowing just three hits and one unearned run while striking out five.
West Chester wraps up its trip to Cary on Sunday morning against Pace at 10 a.m.
