SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. – The Shippensburg University baseball team split a pair of thrilling Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Eastern Division games Saturday with No. 22 Millersville, dropping the opening contest 4-3 before holding on in the nightcap for a 10-8 victory on a gorgeous Alumni Day at Fairchild Field.
 
Shippensburg (17-17, 11-7 PSAC East) totaled 13 runs on 14 hits without committing an error while Millersville (27-7, 14-4) finished with 12 runs on 22 hits and three errors. The SU victory in Game 2 snapped a 13-game winning streak for the Marauders.
 
Sophomore Jake Kennedy hit home runs No. 13 and No. 14 in Game 2. He moved into second place in SU history for home runs in a season, surpassing Jay Kipp (1992) and Matt DeSanto (2003). Todd Melisauskas hit a school-record 17 home runs in 1987.
 
Sophomore Ryan McMillen went 5-for-7 on the day with two runs and one RBI while freshman Nick Spangler finished 3-for-5 with 4 RBIs, one walk and a run scored.
 
The Raiders take on Millersville Sunday in a doubleheader at 1 p.m. from Cooper Park.
 
Game 1
 
Shippensburg trailed 2-0 and was unable to reach base until the fourth inning when junior Mike Marcinko led off with a walk and junior Austin Allison doubled to left-center field.
 
Later in the inning, Kennedy scored Marcinko on a sacrifice fly. Senior Cody Ezolt drove home Allison with a two-out single to even the score at 2-2.
 
McMillen led off the bottom of the fifth inning with a single and moved to second on a passed ball. Next, on a bizarre play, Spangler served up a swinging-bunt single that stayed fair up the first base line as it dribbled past the reach of the Millersville pitcher and catcher. Meanwhile, McMillen had not stopped running from second base and slid head-first over an unoccupied home plate for the go-ahead run before the catcher could get back from his attempt to retire Spangler.
 
Millersville tied the game with an RBI-double in the sixth and took the lead with a two-out solo home run in the top of the seventh inning.
 
Trailing 4-3 in the home half of the seventh, freshman Dalton Hoiles was hit by a pitch. McMillen promptly doubled to left center, moving Hoiles to third. Spangler was then intentionally walked, loading the bases with no outs. However, a fielder's choice nabbed Hoiles at the plate and two consecutive strikeouts allowed the Marauders to hang on for the one-run win.
 
Junior Marcus Shippey tossed a complete game and allowed four runs on 10 hits while striking out six and walking one.
 
Game 2
 
Shippensburg came out of the gates in the nightcap with three runs in the first inning on an RBI-single from McMillen and a two-run blast to straightaway center field from Kennedy.
 
Millersville took a 4-3 lead after scoring one run in the second inning and three in the third.
 
Kennedy hit the second pitch of the fourth inning over the left-field fence and tied the game at 4-4. Shippensburg would go on to score four more runs in the frame including a three-run bomb from redshirt-freshman Tyler Betz and an RBI-double from Spangler. For Betz, it was his first collegiate home run.
 
The Raiders added two more runs in the fifth after Spangler plated Ezolt and Kennedy on a two-out single through the right side between the first and second basemen.
 
The Marauders scored four runs in the top of the sixth inning to draw within two runs of the lead at 10-8. In the seventh inning, with the tying run on first base, MU's Kurt Seiders launched a screaming line drive to left field where Hoiles laid out for a diving catch to end the game and secure the win for Shippensburg.
 
Freshman Gabe Mosser pitched five innings and allowed four runs on eight hits while striking out six and walking one for his fourth consecutive victory.
 
Sophomore Josh Kutchey tossed a scoreless seventh inning to secure his third save of the season.