The Shippensburg University baseball team used 11 hits, including a pair of home runs, Sunday to win the finale of a three-game series at No. 5 Catawba, 8-5, on a rainy day at Newman Park in Salisbury, N.C.
 
Shippensburg's (3-4) offensive charge was led by leadoff hitter, senior Mike Marcinko, and cleanup hitter, sophomore Dalton Hoiles as the duo combined for seven of the 11 Raider hits.
 
Marcinko led the game off with an opposite field homer, his first of the season, on a 3-2 pitch. The Raiders' shortstop finished 4-for-5 with two runs scored and two stolen bases.
 
Marcinko's homer wasn't the only SU long ball of the first inning as Hoiles launched a solo shot to left field to give SU a 2-0 lead over the Indians. The Raiders extended their lead to 3-0 in the top of the second when sophomore Grant Hoover singled home junior Ryan McMillen.
 
SU ended up scoring in each of the first four innings as Hoiles doubled home two Raiders in the third inning and Marcinko was driven in by sophomore Nick Spangler's RBI single in the fourth.
 
Hoiles leads SU with a .417 average this season and already has five extra-base hits.
 
Meanwhile, senior Rich Michaud did a fine job holding down one of the country's best lineups. Michaud lasted 6.1 innings, allowing four runs on six hits, to earn his first win of the season. Michaud threw 96 pitches and struck out three batters.
 
The Raiders added two more runs in the seventh when SU loaded the bases in front of McMillen. The junior laced a sharp grounder to third that was misplayed, leading to two runs scoring.
 
Redshirt-freshman Tyler Butcher was solid in relief of Michaud, allowing a run on two hits in 1.2 innings. Junior Josh Kutchey shut the door in the ninth by striking out the side around a two-out double.
 
Kutchey's strikeout to end the game was of Catawba's Will Albertson, who led all of Division II in hitting last year with a .467 average.
 
The Raiders will play another three-game series in North Carolina next weekend when they take on UNC-Pembroke for a doubleheader Saturday and a single game Sunday. Saturday's action begins at 1 p.m.