Box score

JOHNSTOWN, Pa. - Shippensburg University junior Matt Wright struck out 10 and held host Pittsburgh-Johnstown to just four hits and one unearned run over seven innings to lead the Red Raiders to an 11-1 victory over the Mountain Cats in the North Atlantic Region Championship Friday night at Point Stadium.

The victory was the third in as many games for Shippensburg (36-23) against UPJ this season after the Red Raiders swept a doubleheader in Ft. Pierce, Florida on March 10. In game one of that series, Wright allowed just one hit while striking out 11 and walking only two in picking up his first win of the season.

Offensively, Shippensburg exploded for eight runs in the first four innings and in its two regional victories, have outscored its opponents 13-1 during that time.

Shippensburg has scored 21 runs in two games while four Red Raider pitchers have struck out 21, allowing only nine hits and two earned runs.

On Friday, over half of the Mountain Cats' 27 outs came by strikeout as Wright, senior Brandon Geib and senior Kyle Warner combined for 14. In the ninth, Warner struck out all three of the batters he faced.

UPJ (36-18-1) also stranded 12 runners on base.

Sophomore Rick Shumway helped Shippensburg take a 2-0 lead after the first inning when his triple plated junior Kyle Rhoades and junior Tyler Redick.

Junior Kasey Kuhns followed with his own triple to lead off the second before junior Sean Killian hit an RBI-single to increase the lead to three. Killian finished the game 1-for-3 with one RBI and in five postseason contests, has totaled six hits and is hitting .353 with two RBIs.

The Red Raiders broke the game open with a five-run fourth, keyed by a two-run single from Rhoades and a two-run double by sopohomore Kevin Scholly that expanded the lead to 8-0.

The Mountain Cats snapped Wright's bid for his second shutout of the season in the sixth when Dan DelSignore plated Chris Turka after Turka drew a leadoff walk and advanced to second on an error.

Shippensburg added three more runs during its final at-bat in the bottom of the eighth when it took advantage of walks by Killian and senior Eric Dezell before a Redick two-run double scored both runners. Scholly then drove in his third run of the evening when he scored Redick on an RBI-groundout.

Geib and Warner provided scoreless relief in the eighth and ninth to close out the victory.

Mountain Cat starter Kaleb Fleck, the first of five UPJ pitchers used in the game, suffered the loss after allowing eight runs, only three of which were earned.

Shippensburg will face PSAC rival West Chester at 11:00 a.m., on Saturday after the Golden Rams eliminated Concord with a 7-4 victory in the second game on Friday. West Chester has won two of its three meetings with the Red Raiders this season, including a 7-0 victory in the PSAC Baseball Championship at Clipper Magazine Stadium on April 30.