If you didn’t know the name Jay Salsbery before Thursday afternoon, that’s understandable. The freshman came into the day with no home runs, no heroics, and zero appearances on your favorite NCAA highlight reel.
And now?
He’s got one grand slam — his first career home run — that flipped an NCAA Tournament game on its head, turned a 4–3 fifth-inning deficit into a “How did that end 17–4?” demolition, and kept Jefferson dancing into the weekend.
Seventeen to four.
At the NCAA East Regional.
Let’s pause and appreciate what we just witnessed at DeSales University.
The Rams, ranked No. 17 by the NCBWA and No. 18 by the ABCA, were in trouble. Goldey-Beacom — the same team they’d sparred with all season — had just slugged a two-run homer in the fifth inning to take a 4–3 lead. The game was hanging by a thread.
But then came the fifth inning. Not just any fifth inning — a Jefferson fifth inning. You know, the kind where seven runs score faster than you can refill your cup of sunflower seeds.
A single by Thomas Matuszewski. A fielding error with the bases loaded. A walk. Boom — 6–4.
Then Jay Salsbery, a guy who hadn’t hit a homer all year, unloaded on a pitch and sent it flying into the DeSales sky. Grand slam. Ten to four. Somewhere, Roy Hobbs smiled.
And the Rams weren’t done.
In the seventh: a sac fly by Gabe Silva. In the eighth: six more runs. Six! That inning had everything — a Lopez RBI single, a thunderous three-run bomb from Luis Beato Mora in his first game back in the starting lineup, and another Silva single for dessert.
Gabe Silva finished with four RBIs. Jay Kalieta crossed the plate twice and reached base three times. Matuszewski walked three times. Beato Mora looked like he never left. And Jay Salsbery? His lone hit of the day just happened to come with the bases loaded and the season hanging in the balance.
And we haven’t even talked about the guy who pitched in this track meet.
Danny Kerr, pitching as if unfazed by the 30-minute at-bats unfolding behind him, quietly gave the Rams eight innings of work. Ten hits? Sure. But only four runs, five strikeouts, and one walk. In a game where momentum was running a 4.3 down the line, Kerr gave Jefferson exactly what it needed: stability.
Which brings us to what’s next: a best-of-three showdown with Franklin Pierce, starting Friday at 11 a.m. The Ravens earned their spot by taking down Goldey-Beacom in the tournament opener.
As for Jefferson?
All they did was put up 14 unanswered runs and keep their season alive with a blowout that began as a nailbiter.
The Golden Rams came in as the No. 2 seed, with postseason pedigree and a deep staff. But by the time the eighth inning ended, they’d used six pitchers. The first, Ryan DeHaven, gave them four innings — and a chance — but gave up three runs in the process. The bullpen? That’s where the script veered off-course. Five innings, eight runs, and zero momentum as the Falcons tacked on crooked numbers and sent West Chester into the elimination bracket.
This wasn’t supposed to happen. Not against a Fairmont squad that had already played (and lost) earlier in the day. Not at home. Not to a team that had runners in every inning but somehow left more men on base than runs on the board.
It wasn’t for lack of chances. A double in the second looked like it might get the Rams rolling, but it didn’t. An RBI single by Patrick Gozdan in the fifth broke the shutout, but West Chester stranded two in scoring position that inning — and two more in the seventh. By the time the eighth rolled around, it was 11-1, and the Falcons were flexing, not flinching.
To their credit, West Chester punched back. Gozdan drove in another run. A wild pitch brought one more across. A sac fly trimmed the margin. And then came the ninth: two on, nobody out, and a rocket off the bat of Darius Troche that screamed rally... until it turned into a game-ending double play.
Baseball, man.
Now, just like last year, West Chester finds itself staring down an elimination game on Friday, this time against East Stroudsburg. The margin for error? Gone. The room for regrets? Too late. The mission? Win — and play again.
