West Chester's fast start, Costa's pitching helps West Chester to 1-0 lead in Super Regional

Thursday, May 21

Millersville, PA

7:00 PM

Millersville University

39-17

West Chester

43-10

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Millersville	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	2	3	0
West Chester	4	0	2	0	0	0	0	1	X	7	13	0

Photo by: Mark Palczewski

West Chester's fast start, Costa's pitching helps West Chester to 1-0 lead in Super Regional

5/21/2026 10:10:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

By: Ethan Hulsey, Director of Athletic Communications

MILLERSVILLE, Pa. - Julian Costa showed why he was the consensus Atlantic Region Pitcher of the Year Thursday night under the Cooper Park lights. He took a no-hitter into the seventh inning, and his bats gave him an early lead as No. 9 West Chester beat No. 19 Millersville 7-2 in game one of the NCAA Super Regional.

Costa earned the 33rd win of his career, frustrating Millersville's hitters with a mix of pitches. He faced the minimum and issued just one walk until Matthew Williams belted a single to break up the history-making bid. West Chester's lineup, which scored 51 runs in the three Atlantic Regional games, jumped all over Millersville starter Alex Kuehn in the first inning and built a 4-0 lead from which Millersville never recovered.

"He pitched a great game," said Millersville head coach Jon Shehan. "No hit through 6 1/3. Our guys were struggling seeing the difference between the breaking ball and the fastball. It was pretty obvious we were in between all night."

Kuehn was stellar the first time Millersville and West Chester met in 2026. He gave up just one hit in 5 1/3 innings as Millersville scored a 6-0 win at home. But Thursday was different. The red-hot Rams started with back-to-back singles, a hit-by-pitch and run-scoring single from Drew Simpson before Austin Stalker cleared the bases with his team-leading 11th home run of the season.

"We didn't pitch well early," said Shehan. "They have a great offense, and when you make bad pitches in the middle of the plate they make you pay...They made adjustments and were ready for Kuehn tonight."

West Chester added two more in the third inning off Kuehn with three consecutive hits from the bottom three hitters in the lineup. On the other side, Costa pounded the zone and the few balls Millersville hit squarely were right at West Chester fielders. A walk to start the second inning was quickly erased with a double play. Trailing 6-0 in the seventh, Millersville finally threatened. Williams' one-out single got it started. Jimmy Kirk walked on four pitches, and Sammy Laux singled on a full-count pitch to load the bases. But Millersville could not string together hits against Costa. Xavier Smith flew out to bring home Williams, but Costa got Brady Ebbert to pop up on another full-count offering. That was Millersville's last real shot at closing the gap.

Costa threw 101 pitches and struck out five in seven innings. Millersville's bullpen pitched well. Carlos Caraballo struck out five in 3 1/3 scoreless. Brady Grimes gave up a run on one hit in 1 2/3.

West Chester now leads the season series 4-2 with three one-run wins and has handed Millersville two of its five losses at Cooper Park. The Golden Rams are one win away from its first trip to Cary, N.C., since 2022, while Millersville needs a win in Friday's 12 p.m., game to extend the series. The Marauders won the PSAC Championship game against West Chester 2-1 behind Rece Ritchey's outstanding 8 2/3 innings, and they'll need another win to preserve their season.

"We've had a lot of adversity this year," said Shehan. "We've had our backs against the wall. We weren't supposed to be in a regional six weeks ago. I told the guys, 'This is where we've been all year. It's where we want to be going into the final day possibly of the Super Regional, having a chance to win games.' You have to win game two no matter what. West Chester does not want to lose game two and give us momentum going to a game three. We have Ritchey going tomorrow, and I like our chances."