The Shippensburg University baseball team split two tough games on Tuesday afternoon against PSAC Eastern Division rival Bloomsburg University. The Raiders won a close 3–2 opener win and fell 7-6 in Game 2.
In Game 1 Michael Douglas scored the first run after Jimmy Spanos reached on a fielding error in the bottom of the first. BU tied the game at the top of the second when Tim Kurucz drove in Brady West on the RBI single while Kurucz advanced to third on a throwing error.
During the top of the fourth, BU’s Brad Smith led off with a walk and later stole second after Tim Ravel struck out. Smith then advanced to third on an infield single by Brian Almand. The Huskies took the lead, 2–1, on a sacrifice bunt by West, scoring Smith.
In the next half inning SU’s Isaac Stern hit a single down the right side scoring Spanos, tying the game at two.
Moving into the bottom of the sixth, SU took the lead on an RBI single by Cody Ezolt scoring Pat Kregeloh — the eventual game-winning run. Raider pitcher Nick Massetti improved to a 5–0 after throwing a complete game where he struck out five batters and only allowed two runs.
The Huskies started off Game 2 hot scoring two runs in the first inning off a sacrifice fly and a Spanos fielding error.
BU added to its lead during the top of the second when West grounded into a double play, Corey Baiada scored while Ravel advanced to third. Ravel later scored on a wild pitch to extend the Huskies lead to 4–0.
In the bottom of the third, Kregeloh blasted a two-run homer to pull the Raiders within two runs but BU added a run in the top of the next inning.
The Raiders responded in the bottom of the fourth with two runs off a Jake Kennedy RBI double and an RBI sacrifice fly from Ryan McMillen.
Just when the Raiders thought they had BU at arm’s length, it added another run in the top of the fifth inning.
The Raiders added another run in the bottom half of the inning, but BU hung with them.
SU made one last attempt at a comeback when it added a run in the bottom of the seventh, but that is all the Raiders got.
Spanos finished the afternoon a stellar 5-for-7 with two runs scored.
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