The Lock Haven University baseball team (7-7, 1-3 PSAC East) opened a three-game Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Eastern Division series on the road this afternoon at No. 9 West Chester (12-4, 3-1 PSAC East), and the Golden Rams took the series opener, 8-2, in a scheduled nine-inning game.

Lock Haven’s two runs came off 12 hits and WCU produced eight runs on 10 hits.

West Chester struck early and led 3-0 after one inning and the hosts led 5-0 after two.

The Bald Eagles rallied for a pair of runs in the top of the eighth and cut into the WCU-lead, but West Chester was quick to respond, and scored three more runs in the bottom half of the eighth to stretch the lead again to 8-2.

Leading the way for Lock Haven was Blaise Zeiders who was 2-for-4 at the plate with a run scored and an RBI. Zeiders and Garrett Nepert both had RBI-doubles in the eighth inning.

Brendan Jordan went 2-for-3 at the plate, while Gavin Troutman, Justin Lichtenwalner and Andrew Ramirez all added two-hit games for the Bald Eagles.

Pitchers Garrett Starr and Rylan Bailey each recorded a pair of strikeouts through the first seven innings of action.

West Chester was ranked No. 9 this week by Collegiate Baseball. West Chester was ranked third in this week’s National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Atlantic Region Top-10 poll and the Golden Rams were tabbed 23rd in the organization’s national poll.

Friday’s matchup marked the first in a three-game series vs. nationally-ranked West Chester. The Bald Eagles will host WCU today in PSAC East doubleheader action. Game 1 (7 inn.) is scheduled for noon with Game 2 (9 inn.) to follow Saturday back in The Haven.