The Shippensburg University baseball team took sole possession of fourth place in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Eastern Division on Friday with a doubleheader sweep at rival Kutztown by scores of 3-1 and 13-7 from a sunny North Campus Field.
 
Shippensburg (18-21, 8-10 PSAC East) collected at least 10 hits in each game, marking the fourth time in the last five contests overall that the Raiders have reached double digits. SU's team batting average is now up to .306 for the season, with seven of SU's nine starters boasting an individual average above .300.
 
The Raiders also won their third and fourth straight games at Kutztown after losing 6-in-a-row at North Campus Field from 2011-13.
 
All of the Game 1 runs came in the fourth inning. SU plated three runs, getting a bases-loaded squeeze bunt for a hit by freshman Cash Gladfelter, an RBI-infield hit from senior Mike Marcinko and a sacrifice fly from sophomore Grant Hoover.
 
Kutztown (17-21, 7-11) got its lone Game 1 run on an RBI-single after a pair of walks, but SU junior Mark Curtis shut the door and threw an 82-pitch complete game victory, allowing a run on five hits with five strikeouts to improve to 4-5.
 
Curtis has now thrown six-plus innings in each of his last four starts, including two complete games, while compiling a 2.42 ERA and 17 strikeouts in that span.
 
SU put up a 7-spot in the top of the first inning of Game 2 and was able to stave off a couple of legitimate KU comeback attempts to sweep the nightcap. Among the ways the Raiders scored in the first inning included a two-run double by sophomore Nick Spangler, a bases-loaded walk by Gladfelter and RBI-singles from senior Austin Allison and sophomore Dalton Hoiles.
 
Kutztown got the game within 10-6 in the fourth inning, chasing sophomore starter Andy Crum, and then loaded the bases with one out. After three runners reached on redshirt-freshman reliever Tyler Butcher, he induced a double play to escape the jam.
 
KU re-loaded the bases in the fifth, chasing senior reliever Seth LeFever, but senior Thomas Swartz came in to shut the door. Swartz, who got a win on Tuesday with four shutout innings of relief against Wilmington (Del.), doubled down for the week and earned another win out of the bullpen by 2.1 shutout innings on Friday with four strikeouts.
 
SU cemented the win with a three-run seventh inning, getting RBI-singles from Marcinko and Spangler that sandwiched an RBI-groundout by Hoover. Spangler was 5-of-8 on the day with four RBIs, while Marcinko was 4-for-8 with three RBIs, three runs and a pair of stolen bases. Marcinko has now reached base in 24 consecutive games and went over the 200-hit plateau for his SU career with his four-hit performance.
 
Allison snapped out of a 2-for-25 skid at the plate with a 3-for-4 effort in Game 2.
 
Shippensburg hosts Kutztown at 1 p.m. Saturday on Baseball Alumni Day at Fairchild Field.