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High-flying West Chester twice a winner over Shepherd at venerable Fairfax Field

By Bob Madison - For the Chronicle | Apr 26, 2024

The second game on Friday saw Shepherd University freshman Michael Burnley pitching against West Chester’s Drew Simpson at Fairfax Field. Courtesy photo

SHEPHERDSTOWN — Fairfax Field, with its easily breached fences and nearly a century of sports activity, provided the backdrop for the baseball doubleheader between Shepherd University and on-a-tear West Chester University. As the PSAC schedule winds down to the conference’s playoffs in early May, Shepherd wanted to move firmly toward one of those four playoff berths from the league’s East Division. The lukewarm Rams faced a West Chester team that had won 19 straight games and had already done well enough to earn itself a playoff spot.

There was no wind and the cloud-heavy sky threatened with light rain, throughout the doubleheader afternoon.

No wind meant that the fences in all directions at the former football field could be more important than anything any of the hitters, pitchers or fielders that either team could show those assembled with their umbrellas at the ready.

Home runs at Fairfax Field are as common as foul balls that hit vehicles parked right there at the Miller Hall residence dormitory.

The day’s heavy air was not going to keep the baseballs from flying over the low-slung fences. Decent pitching would have to perform that trick.

West Chester had left-hander Julian Costa going for every strikeout he could muster. And Shepherd countered with Daniel Quintana.

Pitchers able to notch strikeouts at Fairfax Field mean fewer baseballs put in play . . . and fewer chances to count the oft-seen home runs.

Costa started getting his strikeouts early. His record was already 7-1, and he fanned two Rams in the first inning. And again in the second. And third. And fourth. And fifth. By the time Costa departed with his six reliable innings under his belt, the visiting Golden Rams had a four-run lead and could afford to have relief pitcher Kyle Lazer surrender one run to complete West Chester’s 5-2 Game One win.

Costa was the near-perfect Fairfax Field pitcher on the rain-threatened day. He allowed three hits and saw only two fly balls go to his outfielders.

The second game saw Shepherd’s Michael Burnley, a freshman, pitching against West Chester’s Drew Simpson. Burnley fanned six of the first 10 men he faced, keeping West Chester scoreless. Simpson walked two and hit a batter in an inning, as Shepherd once held a 2-0 lead.

But in the fourth, the Golden Rams got home runs from Joe Kaleck and Casey Vaughan to wrest the lead away from Shepherd and go in front, 4-2.

Burnley was gone after one batter in the fifth and West Chester smothered the Rams with a seven-run inning to give themselves plenty of breathing room with an 11-3 cushion.

An Anthony Boccio home run gave West Chester its final run in a 12-3 win.

Shepherd had managed 10 hits, but stranded eight runners in the seven-inning loss.

The doubleheader loss left the Rams with a 15-19 overall record and still in fifth place in the nine-team division. West Chester moved to 31-5 overall.

Fairfax Field could still be proud of its long-term history that had it host Shepherd football games, when in the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, and be where the president of the college resided for many years. But its outfield fences were still a ready target for any team’s hitters.