Baseball splits Alumni Day showdown with No. 1 Millersville

The Shippensburg baseball team entered Saturday’s double-header riding a three-game win streak, Millersville entered with 12 consecutive wins of their own.

The two squads duked it out in a thrilling two-game series, with both games decided by two runs or less. Shippensburg (17-17) dropped the first game 4-3 but rebounded to top the Marauders (27-7) 10-8 in the second game on Ship’s Fairchild Field.

Game 1:

Shippensburg trailed 2-0 and was held hitless until the 4th inning, when junior Austin Allison doubled to left field. The Raiders would even the game in the fourth after sophomore Jake Kennedy’s sacrifice fly scored junior Mike Marcinko and senior Cody Ezolt singled to centerfield, scoring Allison.

The Raiders took a one-run lead in the bottom of the 5th after a bizarre play. Freshman Nick Spangler bunted for a single and hustled to first to beat the catcher’s throw. During the routine play both Millersville’s catcher and pitcher forgot to cover home plate, allowing Ryan McMillen to advance from second and slide into an unoccupied home base for the score.

Millersville tied the game in the sixth inning and took a 4-3 lead in the final inning after Mitch Stoltzfus hit a solo home run over the right field-fence.

Shippensburg had the bases-loaded with zero outs in the bottom of the seventh but left all three runners stranded on bases.

Game 2:

Shippensburg bounced back from a 4-3 defeat to claim a 10-8 victory over Millersville in the second game of the day.

Shippensburg came out swinging in the opening inning, claiming an early 3-0 lead. Ryan McMillen had an RBI single and Jake Kennedy hit a two-run blast over the centerfield wall.

Millersville responded with one run in the second and three in the third inning to take a 4-3 lead.

Jake Kennedy cracked another long ball that landed in the parking lot to tie the game at 4 runs in the fourth. Shippensburg scored four more runs in the inning, with the lion’s share of the runs via red-shirt freshman Tyler Betz’ three-run blast.

Shippensburg added two more runs in the fifth and held of Millersville’s late-game rally, securing the victory after freshman Dalton Hoiles made a diving catch for the last out of the game.