Shippensburg University’s baseball team won a pair of home games this past weekend against Gannon, taking both Saturday games 5-4 and 8-7 before falling 5-4 on Sunday. The results put the Raiders at 4-3 on the young season.

The first game of the series was a seven-inning contest on Saturday, where SU came from behind for a 5-4 victory. The Raiders scored one run in each of the first three innings, with the game being tied at 3-3 after the third.

The tie held until the seventh, with Gannon taking the lead on an RBI single in the top half of the frame. The Shippensburg offense responded.  Freshman Mason Morris tying the game with a single before freshman Kyle Ausgotharp hit a walk-off single to center field, giving SU the win.

Ausgotharp and Morris each had two hits in the game, with Ausgotharp driving in a pair of runs. Junior AJ Wenrich had the other RBI for the Raiders. Graduate Jaxon Dalena started on the mound for SU, going five innings, allowing three runs on seven hits and six walks, striking out five. Freshman Thomas Davenport got the win in relief, pitching the last two innings.

Game two was scheduled for nine innings, with Gannon jumping ahead early with three runs in the first. SU responded and tied the game after five innings with the help of two RBI singles from Wenrich.

Gannon rebounded to take a 7-3 lead in the eighth, but the Raiders wouldn’t go down easily. Senior Carter Hinds provided an RBI single with the bases loaded to make it 7-4, before senior Gio Calamia cleared the bases with a three-run triple to tie the game at seven.

The game remained tied into extras, and it seemed likely that the game would only go 10 innings at most due to loss of daylight. Wenrich was the hero in the tenth, singling down the left field line to score freshman Will Oates and give SU an 8-7 win to cap off a frigid day.

The walk-off was Wenrich’s fifth single of the day and third RBI. He was the first Raider to have a five-hit game since Cash Gladfelter in 2017. Calamia went 3-for-6 with three RBI, with Oates picking up three hits as well.

Junior J.T. Weaver went 5.1 innings in his start, allowing six runs on nine hits and two walks, striking out five. Junior Jack Robinson got the win, pitching two scoreless innings in relief.

SU head coach Matt Jones was proud of his bullpen in the doubleheader. “We had some interesting outings down south when we were trying to figure it out, but they’ve been lockdown ever since,” Jones said. “We have a bunch of guys that we have confidence in.”

The final game of the series saw Gannon take the lead in the second inning, but SU responded immediately with a solo home run from freshman Thomas Cano-Piszel to tie the game 1-1.

Gannon pulled ahead, taking a 5-1 lead in the fifth. The Raiders chipped away at the deficit, with Oates driving home a run in the fifth and junior Mike Heckman hitting a sacrifice fly in the eighth.

Shippensburg trailed by two entering the bottom of the ninth but got a two-out rally going with Oates hitting an RBI double to make it 5-4. Gannon pitcher Zach Tkatch rebounded, getting the final out for the away win.

Hinds, Wenrich, Cano-Piszel and Oates each had two hits in the game, with Morris and Heckman earning RBIs. 

Redshirt senior Cam Goble took the loss for the Raiders, going 3.2 innings in his start, allowing three runs (two earned) on five hits and two walks, striking out four.

Shippensburg has four home games on tap for next week, a Tuesday game against Lincoln before hosting Slippery Rock for three games. 

The series begins Friday at 2 p.m., followed by a Saturday doubleheader beginning at noon at Fairchild Field.

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