The Shippensburg University baseball team split its Friday doubleheader at West Chester, opening conference play with a 14-9 loss followed by a 12-3 victory over the Golden Rams that secured SU's Matt Jones his 400th career head coaching victory.
 
Shippensburg (8-11, 1-1 PSAC East) continued its impressive display at the plate with 28 hits in the doubleheader, batting .406 as a team with nine extra-base hits and five sacrifices. Over the last six games overall, the Raiders have scored 62 runs and cranked out 77 hits, batting .368 as a team.
 
All 10 Raiders that batted on Friday had at least one hit, with 8-of-10 posting multiple hits on the day. Sophomore Dalton Hoiles launched a three-run homer in Game 2 and reached base in six of 10 plate appearances. Hoiles was 4-for-8 with a homer, double, four RBIs, walk, hit-by-pitch and three runs scored. He remains SU's leading hitter with a .423 batting average through 19 games.
 
Both junior Ryan McMillen and sophomore Nick Spangler went 4-for-8 with two doubles and two RBIs on the day. Spangler was 3-for-4 in the nightcap, while McMillen was 3-for-5 in Game 1.
 
Freshman Tommy Baggett impressed with four hits, playing first base in the opener and designated hitter in game 2. Baggett had two hits in each game and scored three times on the day. Sophomore Grant Hoover had three hits, four RBIs and three runs, while freshman Cash Gladfelter contributed three hits, including two doubles, with two RBIs.
 
Senior Austin Allison had two hits, two walks and three RBIs, while fellow senior Mike Marcinko had two hits, a sacrifice, a stolen base and three runs scored in Game 2 alone.
 
As important as the offense was on Friday, senior Marcus Shippey delivered an important pitching performance in Game 2 to help stabilize the SU arms. Shippey threw a complete game and tied a career with 11 strikeouts, walking just one. He allowed three runs, all of which crossed the plate just four batters into the bottom of the first inning, and retired seven of the last eight batters he faced. The outing is the fourth time in 25 career starts that Shippey has struck out 10 or more in a game.
 
SU fell behind 9-0 through three innings of Game 1 but rallied for eight consecutive runs over the next three innings to make the score 9-8 entering the bottom of the sixth inning. The Golden Rams countered with five runs off Raider relievers in the bottom of the sixth inning.
 
Game 2 featured a 3-3 score through one inning before Shippensburg re-claimed the lead with a run in the second inning. SU led 5-3 through five innings before scoring four runs in the sixth inning and three more in the seventh inning for the decisive nightcap victory.
 
Jones, in his 10th season at Shippensburg, has totaled 252 victories as the head coach of the Raiders after earning 148 wins at Elizabethtown from 2000-06.
 
Shippensburg will host West Chester at 1 p.m. Saturday from Fairchild Field. Before the game, 10-year-old Colby Bubb of Boiling Springs will throw out the first pitch on Vs. Cancer Day. Help SU Baseball vs. Cancer by visiting HERE.