LOCK HAVEN, Pa. – Pitcher Kevin Worek (Huntingdon Valley, Pa./Abington) threw a complete-game on the way to victory in game one and the Bald Eagle bats soared in game two as the Lock Haven University baseball team swept No. 9 West Chester (12-6, 3-3 PSAC East) today at home on Watkins Field.
 
Behind Worek's strong outing, LHU won game one 4-3, and Lock Haven scored 11 runs on 14 hits, and completed the sweep with an 11-8 game-two victory. With the sweep, the Bald Eagles took the important early-season Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Eastern Division series.
 
The sweep helped Lock Haven improve to 9-7 overall and 3-3 in PSAC East play.
 
The aforementioned Worek was a huge part of the story in the game-one victory, as he grinded out the win with a workmanlike outing. He went the distance in improving to an impressive 4-1 on the season. Worek scattered seven hits over seven innings, and allowed three runs. He struck out six WCU batters and didn't surrender a walk in the complete-game win.
 
Lock Haven plated its four game-one runs on six hits and West Chester scored three runs on seven hits.
 
Trailing 3-2 in the bottom of the fifth, the Bald Eagles struck quick, and scored two runs to take the lead.
 
Garrett Nepert (Preston, Md./Colonel Richardson (Chesapeake County CC)) finished 2-for-3 with a run scored and an RBI. He was credited with an RBI in the fifth, and Francisco Taveras (Muhlenberg, Pa./Muhlenberg (Lehigh Carbon CC)) recorded two hits in game one.
 
In a fitting end to game one - Worek picked off a runner at first for the third and game-ending out.
 
In game two, the Bald Eagle bats heated up despite cold weather and blustery winds. LHU plated 11 runs on 14 hits and used an eight-run bottom of the fifth to put the game away.
 
In all, Lock Haven hit three home runs in game two vs. West Chester.
 
Gavin Troutman (Boyertown, Pa./Oley Valley) was 3-for-6 with three runs scored, and three RBIs. He hit home runs in the first and seventh inning.
 
Justin Lichtenwalner (Lancaster, Pa./Hempfield) hit a three-run home run to spark the big fifth inning. He was 2-for-4 with a run scored, and three RBIs. Blaise Zeiders (Selinsgrove, Pa./Selinsgrove) had a two-hit game, and Joe Shannon (Warminster, Pa./William Tennent (Mercer CC)) had two hits including a double.
 
Sean Brennan (Hatfield, Pa./North Penn) took to the mound in the fifth with two outs and he was nearly unhittable from there on the way to the win. Over four and 1/3 innings of work, he struck out eight. The sophomore scattered four hits and walked only one. In the seventh, he struck out the side and Brennan recorded a 1-2-3 inning in the eighth.
 
Lock Haven and West Chester opened the three-game PSAC East series yesterday in West Chester and Golden Rams won the opener, 8-2.
 
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 23^rd in the organization's national poll.
 
Of note - West Chester, a perennial PSAC and Atlantic Region power, advanced to the national semifinals at last season's Division II College World Series.
 
The game-one win was Lock Haven's first vs. a nationally-ranked team since game three of last season.  The sweep was the first vs. a nationally-ranked team since LHU swept West Chester back in 2018, ranked No. 6 at the time.
 
Up Next for Lock Haven:
The Bald Eagles will return to the field on Friday, March 24 vs. Kutztown in PSAC East play (2 p.m.).