The Shippensburg University baseball team split a four-game series this weekend against fellow Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) East Division foe, East Stroudsburg University.
The four-game home-and-home series was split between two days with the Raiders hosting the Saturday matchups, before hosting Sunday’s games as well, because of the weather. The first doubleheader was originally slated for Friday but had to be postponed for Sunday due to the rain. Saturday’s matchups looked like they were in danger of another rainout but the games went on despite the poor weather.
Shippensburg dropped Game 1, 4–3, despite posting a late inning rally. Going into the bottom of the fifth, the Raiders were down 4–1. Nick Spangler started the comeback by scoring Tommy Bagget with his third hit of the game. Jake Kennedy followed with a double, which brought Spangler home and cut the deficit to one.
The scoring stopped there though, as East Stroudsburg’s Tyler Eckman powered through the rest of the fifth. Connor Johnson closed out the final two innings for the Warriors, giving them the Game 1 win.
Game 2 was not as close. East Stroudsburg jumped out to a 6–0 lead by the end of the second inning. The Raiders got on the board in the third when Cash Gladfelter drove in Ryan McMillen and Tommy Bagget.However, the Warriors would get those two runs back in the following inning and then continue to pile it on for a 10–3 win.
On Sunday, SU picked up its first win of the series. Game 3 started similarly to Game 2, but this time it was Shippensburg jumping out to a quick lead. Jake Kennedy got things started with a two-run homer in the first inning. The Raiders went on to score three more runs by the third inning and then put the game out of reach with a five-run inning in the fourth.
Mark Curtis pitched a complete game giving up five runs while striking out seven. Run support allowed Curtis to eat up some innings and give the other pitchers some rest going into the final game of the series. The win moves Curtis to a record of 4–4 on the year.
SU kept the hot bats going in the final game of the series. Again, it was Kennedy driving in Spangler and McMillen, to take an early lead. SU added two more runs in the second and three in the sixth. The Warriors made some noise in their final inning with a two-run homer, but still fell short of the Raiders, 7–3.
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