MANSFIELD, Pa. – The Shippensburg University baseball team capped off the 2011 regular season on Saturday afternoon from Shaute Field with a 7-5 victory over Mansfield; clinching a berth in the PSAC tournament and securing a seed no worse than No. 3 in the PSAC Eastern Division. The Mountaineers won Saturday's opener, 14-3.

Shippensburg (22-26, 12-12 PSAC East) is guaranteed to finish ahead of Kutztown (11-13), Bloomsburg (11-13), East Stroudsburg (9-13) and West Chester (9-13) and can only be surpassed in the standings by the Mountaineers (9-11), who have yet to make up home doubleheaders with the Warriors and the Golden Rams.

After next week's final exams, Mansfield will once again attempt to make up its two doubleheaders in order to determine which of the five remaining squads will earn the final two playoff spots.

The only confirmed seed in the PSAC Eastern Division is that of No. 1 Millersville. Currently, no teams in the PSAC Eastern Division have been eliminated from playoff contention.

The difference in Saturday's nightcap was the pitching effort of sophomore Josh Scott and a decisive six-run third inning for the Raiders. Scott made his first start in divisional play and just his third overall this season, finishing one out short of a complete game. He improved his record to 4-2 by scattering five runs and nine hits with three strikeouts.

Trailing 2-0, SU loaded the bases to start the third on a walk, bunt single and an error. Junior Eric Herman plated a run on a groundout and senior Kris Kullman scored on a wild pitch to tie the score.

After a four-pitch walk, junior Ben Miller singled home a run to give the Raiders the lead. Hot-hitting sophomore catcher Steve Sulcoski and junior Tyler Uphouse each delivered RBI-singles that extended Shippensburg's lead and chased Mansfield starter Craig Cyerman.

Senior Jesse Smith, who led off the inning with a walk, produced the last run-scoring single of the inning. It gave the Raiders a four-run lead until the fifth, when the Mountaineers scratched out three runs to make the score 6-5.

In the top of the seventh, Sulcoski singled to left field with two outs to provide Shippensburg a valuable insurance run. Sulcoski extended his hitting streak to nine games on Saturday and finished the series going 6-for-11 at the plate with two extra-base hits, four RBIs and 10 total bases.

Mansfield (20-15, 9-11 PSAC East) got the tying run to second base with two outs in the seventh before freshman Austin Bartley entered and induced a fly ball to the warning track that ended the game. It was the second divisional save of the week for Bartley, who also shut the door in a home victory over East Stroudsburg on Tuesday.

Shippensburg won three of its divisional series this season by a 3-1 margin and lost its other three divisional series by a 3-1 margin. Ironically, SU won both of its games this season when on the verge of getting swept in a season series but lost all three games it played when attempting to sweep another team.

The 2011 PSAC Championships from Point Stadium in Johnstown. The double-elimination tournament begins Wednesday, May 11 and runs through Saturday, May 14.

Notes: Shippensburg last qualified for the PSAC tournament in 2009…the Raiders only played one game that year from Lancaster before being sent home because of a ridiculous amount of rainfall that led to the shortening the tournament to a single-elimination format…Scott was SU's best pitcher in the month of April, allowing six earned runs in 22.2 innings of work while posting a 4-0 record and a 2.38 ERA…Shippensburg has played 48 games this season compared to just 35 by Mansfield…SU has played 21 games in just the month of April…the only player to start every game at the same position during the regular season was senior AJ Czap, who fittingly caught the final out on Saturday…Czap hit from eight different places in the batting order this season, with his only absence being from the No. 7 spot…Herman had two hits in the opening game and finished the regular season alongside freshman Pat Kregeloh with a team-high 13 multi-hit games.