The Shippensburg University baseball team took on PSAC East powerhouse Kutztown University Friday afternoon in a two game doubleheader, the Raiders lost two hard fought games 3–4 and 5–6.

The Raiders were fresh off an impressive weekend-series win over East Stroudsburg University, capturing 3-of-4 games from the Warriors last weekend.

Coming into Friday’s games SU was looking to give KU its first conference loss of the season. But late-inning KU runs kept the Golden Bears’ perfect streak alive.

Game 1

SU was able to strike early in their first game of the doubleheader. Scoring two runs in the first inning. Freshman Mike Marcinko was able to score on a wild pitch to put the Raiders up 1–0.

Later in the inning Jimmy Spanos drove in Pat Kregeloh on a single to right field, putting the Raiders ahead 2–0.

KU answered in the bottom half of the inning, scoring two runs of their own, one coming off a balk from SU senior pitcher Tom Bush. The second run came from a single to right center off Matt Albaugh’s bat.

The Raiders regained a 3–2 lead in the third inning when Tyler Shover drove in David McKolosky; the run was unearned because McKolosky reached first base earlier in the inning on a throwing error from Golden Bear third baseman Todd Rubendall.

Scoring came to a halt until the bottom of the fifth inning when KU tied and eventually regained the lead.

KU earned its third run on a whacky play. The play started off with a throwing error from Raider shortstop Mike Marcinko, all three of KU’s runners advanced, including Brett Hauck who scored, tying the game at three all.

The Golden Bears’ fourth and final run came from a single of Carson Baker’s bat, scoring Kyle Stoudt.

SU was only able to record one hit in the final two innings, coming up short and falling 3–4.

Game 2

In Game 2 of the doubleheader SU looked to regain its composure and come away with a win. Despite the Raiders’ early 4–0 lead the Raiders lost another hard-fought battle off a walk-off single in the bottom of the seventh.

The Raiders’ bats came alive in the early innings of Game 2. SU was able to take an early 1–0 lead when Kregeloh knocked in Michael Douglas. Cal Hogan was able to draw a bases-loaded walk to put SU up 2–0 at the end of the first.

SU kept the scoring going in the second inning when Shover doubled to right field, scoring Marcinko. Kregeloh followed with a single to center field, driving in Shover. Kregeloh finished the day 8-of-3 with two RBIs.

KU knocked the lead to two in the second inning off two unearned runs, making the game to 4–2.
SU’s McKolosky added a little cushion to the Raiders’ lead when he reached on a fielding error that scored Hogan, putting SU up 5–3.

The Golden Bears tied the game in the third inning when they scored two more unearned runs. These came off a fielding error from Spanos and tied the game at five all.

The next three and a half innings were a pitcher’s duel. Both teams both only recorded two hits.
The Raiders were looking to take the game into extra innings but would be heartbroken when KU’s Ricky Gorrell singled to center field scoring Thomas Romano, capturing the win for the Golden
Bears 6–5 and keeping their perfect conference winning streak alive.

The two losses send SU to a 16–7 overall record, 3–3 in PSAC play. KU’s win puts it at 16–4 overall and a perfect 6–0 in PSAC play.

The Raiders will try again to halt KU’s six-game winning streak when it takes the field Saturday for a 1 p.m. doubleheader at Metro Bank Park in Harrisburg.

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