WINGATE, N.C. – The Shippensburg University baseball team dropped two games on the road at Wingate, 12-4 (nine-inning game) and 8-7 (seven-inning game) on a beautiful Saturday afternoon at Ron Christopher Stadium.
 
Shippensburg (0-5) collected 19 hits between the two games, including four home runs, but could not find a way to edge Wingate (7-7), who used timely hitting to sweep the Raiders in the doubleheader.
 
Junior Nick Spangler, sophomore Tommy Baggett and junior Dalton Hoiles each had three hits on the day. Spangler had two extra-base hits, a walk and scored four runs. Baggett had two doubles and a home run.  
 
Shippensburg also drew 10 walks at the plate on Saturday – including two each by senior Jake Kennedy, sophomore Drew Bene and senior Ryan McMillen.
 
Game One
 
Down 5-1 heading into the top of the fourth, the Raiders found a spark when Bene led the inning off with a double down the left-field line. After a strikeout, Baggett homered to left-center field to cut the Wingate lead to just 5-3.
 
Two batters later, Spangler took the first pitch he saw over the right-field wall to put the Raiders behind by just one run. Wingate countered, however, with five runs over the next two innings and eventually take Game 1 by the score of 12-4.
 
Redshirt-freshman Zack Sims pitched 5.1 relief innings while recording four strikeouts. Freshman Kyle Lysy made his collegiate debut, pitching a scoreless frame while registering two strikeouts.
 
Game Two
 
The Raiders got off to a quick start in the top of the second inning thanks to the bat of Bene, who homered for the third time this season. His round tripper plated Kennedy to give SU a 2-0 lead.
 
After Wingate cut the Raider lead in half, SU responded with two more runs thanks to a two-run single from Kennedy that scored Spangler and McMillen, pushing the Raider lead to 4-1.
 
The Bulldogs answered with four runs of their own in the bottom of the third to take a one-run advantage heading into the fourth. SU responded with the game-tying run in the top of the fourth off a Bulldog balk.
 
Junior Andy Crum shut down the Bulldogs in the home half of the fourth to keep the game tied heading into the last three innings. Hoiles led off the top of the fifth with a line-drive double off the center-field fence to bring Kennedy to the plate with nobody out.
 
Kennedy delivered a towering home run over the left-field wall to give the Raiders a 7-5 lead with nine outs to get. Wingate, however, rallied for three runs in the home half of the sixth to eventually edge the Raiders 8-7 in Game 2.
 
Crum finished the day with 5.2 innings pitched, collecting five strikeouts and surrendering just three earned runs.
 
The Raiders will finish their three-game set with Wingate at 1 p.m. tomorrow with a nine-inning game.