Raider baseball captures two victories over KU
Jimmy Spanos throws out a Golden Bear runner from deep in the hole at second base.
The Shippensburg University Raider baseball team won both games against the Kutztown University Golden Bears on Saturday afternoon taking Game 1, 10–1 and Game 2, 3–0.
In the first game, Rich Michaud started on the mound and looked to shut down the Golden Bears who entered the weekend winning both games of a doubleheader against Lincoln University on Thursday.
Michaud ran into some trouble early, starting the game by giving up a lead-off walk and a single.
Center fielder Michael Douglas made a diving catch to end the first inning and stranded KU’s runners on second and third to end the potential threat from the Golden Bears. Michaud settled down after the first, finding his groove and continued getting outs.
KU went down 1-2-3 in the second and the SU offense went to work.
Cody Ezolt doubled to left with one out in the second and Jake Kennedy knocked in the run with a single to left field. Douglas and Mike Marcinko each picked up an RBI in the inning with a single and a sacrifice fly to give the Raiders a 3–0 lead after two innings.
The Raiders picked up another run in the fourth inning after Austin Allison drew a walk and Douglas tripled to left field after a diving attempt was unsuccessful by the KU outfielder.
Pat Kregeloh swings through a ball in Game 2 on Saturday afternoon.
Rich Michaud dominated in his first outing for the Raiders this season in Game 1 against KU.
SU added one more run in the fifth with an Ezolt home run to extend the lead to 5–0.
KU scored a run of its own in the top of the sixth, but the Raiders answered back with five more runs in the bottom of the inning.
Douglas got the bats going with a double to left field and the hits continued. Marcinko, Kennedy and Allison all picked up RBI in the inning which extended the Raider lead to 10–1.
Michaud pitched all seven innings, giving up one run on seven hits with two strikeouts on the day. The strong outing from the sophomore was continued by Pat Kregeloh in the second game of the afternoon double header.
Kregeloh started Game 2 for the Raiders and went the distance, picking up seven strikeouts while giving up one walk and four hits on 85 pitches.
At the plate, Kregeloh jump started the Raider offense in the second inning with a leadoff single that started a two-run inning.
Ezolt hit a double to left field, bringing Kregeloh into third base. Cal Hogan quickly picked up the RBI with a single to bring across the first run of the game. With Ezolt on third base, Vince Careghini singled to center field to bring in the Raiders’ second run.
Kregeloh made quick work of the Golden Bears in the third inning, shutting down any chance of a comeback and adding another run with the bat in the bottom of the third.
Kregeloh hit his seventh home run of the year, a mammoth shot to deep center, to give the Raiders a 3–0 lead. Three runs was all Kregeloh needed once he found his rhythm.
The Golden Bears could not find any way to mount a comeback against the right hander, getting only three hits in the remaining three innings.
The two wins on Saturday improved the Raiders’ record to 21–6 overall and 9–3 in PSAC play. The Raiders will be right back on the field today when they travel to KU to take on the Golden Bears for another PSAC doubleheader.
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