The Shippensburg University baseball team weathered the storm versus the No. 1 team in Division II and picked up an easy non-conference win last week as it tried to stay in position to take the last playoff spot in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Eastern division.
The Raiders opened up the week with a blowout win at the University of the Sciences, 15-0, and closed out its week winning one game of a four-game series on a walk off versus Millersville University, 2-1. SU dropped the other three games to MU 3-0, 2-0 and 16-2.
SU came into the week with its eyes set on the fourth, and final PSAC East playoff spot. After winning 3-of-4 against fifth-place Kutztown University the previous weekend, the squad positioned itself with a narrow edge headed into a crucial week of games. In order to maintain this edge, SU had to set its sights on No. 1-ranked Millersville.
Before the Raiders could get to their weekend series with the Marauders, the team had to travel to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania’s University of the Sciences to take on the Devils in a one game non-conference matchup.
SU made quick work of the Devils, doing a majority of its damage by the end of the sixth inning. In that time, the Raiders had scored 14 runs and racked up 15 hits — scoring at least one run off of each of the Devils four pitchers. SU got a shut out effort from its pitching staff in the game, too.
Freshman Michael Hope pitched five innings and notched his first career win for SU, while Grant Hoover, Tyler Butcher, Seth LeFever and Gabe Mosser all pitched an inning of their own in the victory.
After a two-day break, SU returned home to start its weekend series versus the MU Marauders. In desperate need of wins, the squad dropped Game 1 versus MU, but walked-off in the extra innings of Game 2 to hand MU its fourth blemish on the season.
Game 1 saw the Raiders frustrated by the arm of Brandon Miller. The Marauders ace pitched a gem for his team, allowing zero runs and only three hits in a complete-game effort.
MU opened the scoring in the top of the first inning after Dan Neff registered the first hit of the game and worked his way into scoring position. Dan Stoltzfus then came to bat for MU and belted the ball deep enough to center field to score Neff on a sacrifice fly. That run proved to be the game winner, but the Marauders added two more for insurance in the seventh inning.
Miller’s win brings his record to 8-1. He struck out six and had zero walks on the day, as well.
Mark Curtis got the loss for SU. He struck out one and allowed eight hits in seven innings.
SU and MU were both frustrated by the opposing teams’ pitchers in Game 2. That is because through the first nine innings, neither team could break the score of 0-0. SU’s Andy Crum and MU’s Cordell Shannon combined to strike out seven and only allowed nine hits through the game’s first seven innings.
In the top of the 10th, the stalemate finally came to an end.
With the bases loaded and two outs on the board, it was once again Stoltzfus providing the necessary boost to MU’s offense. The senior belted another sacrifice fly — this time to left field — to take the 1-0 lead, and to take the wind out of SU. SU pitcher Thomas Swartz minimized the damage the rest of the way by working himself out of the jam to hold MU to just one run.
In the 10th , MU elected to pull its starting pitcher in the midst of his nine-inning shut out in favor of Mike Mock. Mock opened up the inning in commanding fashion, registering a strike out for the Marauders, and slowly twisting the figurative knife in the heart of the Raiders.
SU refused to fall, and on the ensuing at bat, Jack Goertzen walked. With the game on the line, SU coach Matt Jones decided to pinch run for Goertzen with Levi Varner. Varner got an opportunity to run early on, as a wild pitch afforded the sophomore ample time to steal second. This left the game on the bat of SU’s Cash Gladfelter.
Mirroring last week’s game against KU, Gladfelter came through in the clutch. The freshman keyed in and ripped a single to right field to bring Varner home, drawing the Raiders back even with Millersville.
Immediately after Gladfelter’s game-tying RBI, Mike Marcinko came to bat and knocked the ball deep into right field for a double. Gladfelter — SU’s lone base runner — scored all the way from first. For the second time in two weeks, SU won on a walk off in extra innings.
Swartz got the win for SU in Game 2, increasing his record to 3-0 on the season. Setting the groundwork for Swartz was Andy Crum, who pitched a career-high seven shut out innings in his start.
SU’s defense was a big reason the team snuck away with a victory.
Crum and Curtis’ seven-inning efforts were the first time SU had two pitchers go the games first seven since last year. Marcinko provided plenty of defense for SU as well, including a run-saving, diving catch in the seventh inning of Game 2. SU turned two double plays in each of Friday’s games, and limited itself to just one error in each, as well.
The Raiders then traveled an hour and a half east to Millersville to wrap up the last two games of the series. The squad came up short in the twinbill on Saturday, losing game one 2-0, and game two by a lopsided margin of 16-2.
The Raiders were shut out for the second time in the series in Game 2 by MU’s Jim McDade. SU could not get its offense going in the game despite the combined effort from pitchers Marcus Shippey and Grant Hoover, who allowed only two runs in seven innings of work.
MU scored the game’s only runs in the bottom of the fourth inning from Dan Neff and Chas McCormick.
In Game 2, MU blew the lid off of SU.
Kyle McClintock pitched well in the beginning for SU, but by the time he was pulled in the third inning, he had given up six runs. The rest of the Raiders pitching staff did not fair well, either, as Gabe Mosser, Seth LeFever and Michael Hope combined to allow nine more runs.
SU’s lone runs came in the top of the fifth inning off of Tommy Baggett’s first career home run. The freshman sent the ball to left-center field, scoring Ryan McMillen in the process.
With the loss, SU now sits two games behind Bloomsburg University for the last playoff spot in the PSAC East. The good news for the Raiders is that it closes its season out versus the Huskies with a four-game series this upcoming weekend.
The Raiders first doubleheader versus Bloomsburg is slated to start this Friday at 1 p.m. at Fairchild Field.
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