Game 1
Game 2

WEST CHESTER, Pa. - Shippensburg University baseball senior Justin Garber became the school's all-time hits leader as the Red Raiders picked up a crucial North Atlantic Region victory on Tuesday at Serpico Stadium, splitting a PSAC crossover doubleheader at No. 11-ranked West Chester, winning game two 9-0 after dropping the opener, 4-2.

Three Shippensburg (27-18) pitchers combined for a three-hit shutout in the second game while freshman Steve McCardell and junior Kyle Rhoades led the Red Raiders offensively.

After going hitless in his first six at-bats with a walk, Garber singled to the shortstop in the top of the sixth in the game two to pass Chad Stecker '05 and move into sole possession of first place on the school's career hits list and second on the all-time PSAC list with No. 255.

McCardell, a native of West Chester, drove in the only Red Raider runs in game one with a two out, two-run single in the top of the second before finishing the second game with three hits and two runs to cap off a 5-for-7 afternoon. Meanwhile, Rhoades was 4-for-5 in game two with two RBIs and one run.

Shippensburg finished the day with 17 hits against the Golden Rams (34-7) who entered the game ranked at No. 11 in the latest American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA)/Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Division II Poll and No. 9 in the National College Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) poll.

However, none of the Red Raiders' 17 hits went for extra bases.

On the mound, five Red Raider pitchers combined to allow just two extra-base hits in 14 innings to a team that had totaled 122 in their previous 39 games.

Shippensburg opened the scoring in game two with an unearned run in the second inning and extended the lead with four, two-out tallies in the fifth.

McCardell singled to lead off the inning and was on third base with two outs when Rhoades laid down a bunt-single to give Shippensburg a 2-0 lead. After an error allowed junior Tyler Redick to reach base, sophomore Kevin Scholly scored Rhoades with a single before run-scoring singles from juniors Kasey Kuhns and Tim Freshour capped off the inning to give the Red Raiders a 5-0 lead.

One inning later, McCardell once again led off with a single and senior Eric Dezell walked to put runners on first and second. Garber then singled to shortstop and moved to second on a throwing error that scored McCardell and sent Dezell to third.

Rhoades grounded out to second to score Dezell and Redick singled to right to score Garber to cap off a three-run sixth. In the seventh, Dezell hit an RBI-single up the middle for the game's final run.

Freshman Kody Kibler made his first career start in game two and threw four shutout innings for his first career victory. He struck out two and scattered three hits. Sophomore Phil Harnick walked four in two innings, but did now allow a hit while senior Kyle Warner struck out the side in the bottom of the seventh to preserve the shutout.

West Chester won the opener behind a strong performance from Greg Ball, who fired a five-hit complete game for his second victory of the season. Matt Cotellese doubled, tripled and totaled two RBIs and Kyle Bechter added one RBI for the Golden Rams.

Freshman Matt Emerich took the loss in the first game, allowing four runs in five innings while striking out four.

The Red Raiders will begin a crucial four-game series with California (Pa.) on Friday at Fairchild Field beginning at 1:00 p.m. The Vulcans currently hold a one game lead over Shippensburg for first place in the PSAC Western Division.