SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. – The Shippensburg University baseball team opened a frigid Friday afternoon with six runs in its first at-bat and ended the day with a walk-off single to record a doubleheader sweep of PSAC Eastern Division rival West Chester by scores of 8-4 and 6-5.

Shippensburg (13-16, 6-4 PSAC East) plated eight runs in the opener against Golden Ram starter Matt Zielinski and rode the strong start of sophomore Tom Bush to victory. Bush improved his record to 5-0 by allowing four earned runs in his first complete game of the year while fanning five batters.

Junior Eric Herman went 3-for-4 in the opener with a double and a stolen base before adding two hits, an RBI and another steal in the second game. Fellow junior Ben Miller drove in two runs in the opener and added three hits in the nightcap. He scored a total of three runs between the two games.

The momentum of the opening inning was crucial to Shippensburg's success – as the Raiders scored five runs with two outs. Ben Miller doubled home Herman with one out and was standing on second base when junior Tyler Uphouse walked. Uphouse's free pass began a stretch of five straight SU hitters that reached base.

Senior Jesse Smith singled through the right side to plate Miller before sophomore Steve Sulcoski walked to load the bases. Junior Jimmy Miller sent the first pitch he saw up the middle for a two-run single, and then senior AJ Czap tripled into the right-center field gap to hang a crooked number on the scoreboard.

West Chester (12-13, 4-6 PSAC East) answered in second with three more runs, but Bush hunkered down and allowed just four base runners for the remainder of the game, recording 1-2-3 innings in the third, fifth and sixth. The Raiders breathed easier down the stretch with two runs in the fourth – one coming on an RBI-single by sophomore Sam Phillips and another on a sacrifice fly by Ben Miller.

The bottom of the order had a great opening game. Jimmy Miller was 2-for-3 with two RBIs and two runs in the opener and added another single and run in the nightcap. Czap was 2-for-3 with two RBIs and one run scored in the first game from the No. 9 spot in the batting order.

In the nightcap, SU once again answered a first-inning run by the Golden Rams to take an early lead. The Raider tied the score in the second with an unearned run and got two more in the third with a run on a wild pitch and another on a sacrifice fly by Uphouse.

The Golden Rams tied the score in the fourth with two unearned runs off junior southpaw Nick Umberger but SU answered with two of its own in the fourth. WCU starter Anthony Clemens entered Friday's game having allowed just six runs all season but was touched up for six by the Raiders in Game 2.

Umberger, who allowed just two earned runs in six-plus innings of work, was lifted in the seventh after the inning started with a fielding error and a walk. Junior Kody Kibler induced an infield fly to the next batter before running into some bad luck. On a hit-and-run play, Kibler jammed the next hitter but the resulting blooper went into no-man's land in right field, plating a runner from second base to tie the score.

Most importantly, Kibler remained resolute on the mound by striking out the next batter on three pitches and yielding a weak grounder to first that stranded a runner on third base.

Ben Miller atoned for his error in the top half of the inning by ripping a one-out double down the left-field line in the bottom of the seventh. He moves to third base on a wild pitch, and after an intentional walk, came home for the game-winning run after Uphouse lifted a fly ball over the drawn-in outfield.

On Saturday, Shippensburg will travel to West Chester for a 1 p.m. doubleheader with the Golden Rams.