SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. – The Shippensburg University baseball team bounced back from a Game 1 loss Friday by scoring the first eight runs in Game 2 to split a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Eastern Division doubleheader with No. 20 East Stroudsburg at a chilly Fairchild Field.
 
Shippensburg (15-19, 6-8 PSAC East) dropped Game 1, 6-2, but rode its quick start in the second game to a 9-6 victory over the Warriors.
 
The Raiders were limited to five hits in Game 1 as East Stroudsburg ace Matt Festa threw a 124-pitch complete game to improve to 8-0 on the season. SU scored its two runs on a pair of bases-loaded walks by freshman Cash Gladfelter and senior Austin Allison.
 
However, in Game 2, the Raiders were much more successful against ESU starter Tyler Eckman, who entered Friday with a 1.47 ERA. SU tagged Eckman for eight runs (five earned) in four innings.
 
SU scored in a variety of ways in Game 2 as senior Mike Marcinko scored from second when Eckman dropped a throw covering first base on a grounder off the bat of sophomore Grant Hoover. The Raiders' right fielder then scored later in the inning on a passed ball.
 
In the second inning, Gladfelter was hit by a pitch, stole second and then scored when junior Jake Kennedy hit a single to left field that was mishandled. Kennedy ended up scoring on a wild pitch to make it 4-0 Raiders through two innings.
 
SU distanced itself in the fourth inning as Hoover hit an RBI single to right-center field. Allison followed with a double on a 3-2 pitch to right-center that scored two more Raiders.
 
Sophomore Nick Spangler, who hit the left field fence in the air to double in his second at-bat of Game 2, almost went yard again, but had to settle for an RBI double that scored Allison to make it 8-0 Raiders after four innings. All four of the Raiders' runs in the frame came with two outs.
 
Spangler had a fantastic day at the plate, finishing 5-for-7 with two doubles in the two games.
 
Sophomore Andy Crum started Game 2 for SU by not allowing a hit through four innings of work against the highest scoring offense in the PSAC. The lefty struck out five of the first eight batters he faced.
 
Crum, however, encountered trouble in the fifth inning and was lifted after 4.2 innings, allowing five runs on four hits.
 
Senior Kyle McClintock earned the rare 2.1 inning save as he recorded the final out of ESU's five-run fifth inning and then allowed just one run in the final two innings to close it out for SU.
 
ESU started the seventh inning with a double and a single, but freshman Ty Painter and Marcinko turned a timely double play that allowed a run to score, but short-circuited the ESU rally.
 
SU's Game 1 starter, junior Mark Curtis, threw 106 pitches in six innings of work, allowing five runs on eight hits.
 
Gladfelter reached four times in the two games with a hit, two walks and a hit by pitch. Marcinko, Hoover and Allison all scored two runs in the Game 2 victory.
 
Saturday's doubleheader between Shippensburg and East Stroudsburg has already been postponed to Sunday. First pitch in East Stroudsburg Sunday is set for 1 p.m.