Pool Party: Golden Rams keep promise with celebratory dip

WEST GOSHEN » West Chester head baseball coach Jad Prachniak doesn’t know exactly who first brought it up, but a joke earlier in the week became a celebratory rallying point on Sunday in Texas soon after the Golden Rams captured the program’s second NCAA Division II national championship since 2012.

Not long after the team had topped Cal-San Diego, 5-2, to win the title, a large contingent of WCU players sprinted to a small pool located just over the outfield fence at AirHogs Stadium in Grand Prairie, Texas, for an impromptu celebration.

“Somebody, who was not affiliated with our team, joked about it earlier in the week that whoever wins the title it is going to find that pool,” Prachniak recalled. “Our guys definitely found the pool.”

When asked about his fondest memories of the week, senior outfielder Nick Bateman first mentioned the dip in the pool.

“Jumping in the pool as a team, with our uniforms on, was something I will never forget,” said Bateman. “Once a few pictures were taken, everybody just sprinted to the pool and jumped in.”

Prachniak never made it out to the pool, but he saw his players running toward the right field wall.

“As I was walking upstairs to do the postgame interview, I saw the majority of the guys making the run towards the pool,” he said. “I thought it was great. It’s good they will have that memory.”