Box Score

LANCASTER, Pa. - Shippensburg University baseball junior Kasey Kuhns, the MVP of last year's conference championship, went 2-for-5 with a two-run homer in a six-run eighth that broke a 2-2 tie and helped the Red Raiders stave off elimination Thursday afternoon with an 8-3 victory over Indiana (Pa.) at Clipper Magazine Stadium in the 2008 PSAC Baseball Championship.

After dropping a 7-0 decision to West Chester to open the defense of its 2007 title on Wednesday, Shippensburg (34-22) must win four more games in the consolation to repeat its run to the championship a year ago.

Last year, the Red Raiders dropped a 2-0 decision to Kutztown to open tournament play before winning four-straight to capture its 16th PSAC championship. During that run, Kuhns hit .353, going 6-for-17 with eight RBIs.

On Thursday, the Crimson Hawks (36-19) held a 2-0 lead after scoring a run in each of the first two innings on three hits and three Shippensburg errors.

The Red Raiders would get one run back in the fifth on an RBI-single by senior Justin Garber before trying the game in the seventh on a sacrifice fly by junior Kyle Rhoades.

Garber, playing in his 195th career game which is just one shy of the school record held by Chad Stecker '05, totaled his 88th hit of the season, leaving him only three short of tying Stecker's single season mark of 91 set in 2004.

Meanwhile, Rhoades finished the game 1-for-3 with three RBIs. After Kuhns homered to right to give Shippensburg a 4-2 lead in the eighth, Rhoades hit a two-run single up the middle to increase the lead to four before junior Tyler Redick and sophomore Kevin Scholly each added RBI-hits to push the margin to 8-2.

IUP added a run in the ninth on an RBI-double by Sean Foor against Shippensburg junior Tim Freshour, but Redick came on to slam the door, retiring three of the four batters he faced.

Freshour picked up his team-leading ninth win, moving him into the top-five on the school's single-season wins list, two shy of the record of 11 set by Evan Englebrook '04 in 2004. Freshour pitched a career-high eight innings, allowing just six hits and two earned runs while striking out six. He was just three outs shy of completing his 10th complete game in 13 starts this season.

Shippensburg will take on Millersville at 3:30 p.m., on Friday in a match-up of two local teams in an elimination game. The Marauders (23-25) fell to Kutztown Thursday night, 9-3 to fall into the consolation bracket after opening the tournament with a 5-3 win over Slippery Rock Wednesday.

Red Raider fans can listen to the game live via Shippensburg University student radio station WSYC 88.7 FM by clicking here and can watch live stats here.