SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. – The Shippensburg University baseball team scored five runs in the third inning Thursday including back-to-back home runs from sophomore
Drew Bene and sophomore
Jack Goertzen to defeat Le Moyne, 8-1 on a sunny afternoon from Fairchild Field.
Shippensburg (3-8) prevented Le Moyne (8-5) from scoring in eight of the nine innings to take the first game of a three-game set between the two teams.
Redshirt-freshman
Zack Sims started on the bump for Raiders, pitching six innings, scattering five hits and striking out five while surrendering just one run. Sims only trouble came in the first, when Le Moyne put runners on second and third with one out. Sims got a pop out for the second out and induced a ground ball to end the inning.
SU got on the board first in the second inning on an RBI double from junior
Nick Spangler that scored senior
Jake Kennedy.
The Raiders expanded their lead in the bottom of the third, sending eight batters to the plate en route to five runs on five hits. Sophomore
Tommy Baggett led off the inning with a single through the left side of the infield. Senior
Ryan McMillen followed with a single of his own and after a sacrifice bunt from junior
Grant Hoover, the Raiders had runners on second and third with just one out.
Junior
Dalton Hoiles reached on an infield single to shortstop giving SU a 2-0 lead. After the Dolphins recorded the second out of the inning on a sac-fly by Kennedy, Bene connected on a first-pitch offering and homered over the left field fence to push the Raider lead to 5-0. Goertzen then followed with a home run to dead center to cap the five-run inning for SU.
Shippensburg added two insurance runs in the seventh on an RBI double from Kennedy and an RBI single from Bene. Bene and Goertzen finished a combined 5-for-8 with four RBI and two runs scored out of the five and six spots of the SU lineup.
Junior
Andy Crum and sophomore
Michael Hope pitched out of the bullpen for the Raiders in the win. Crum pitched two scoreless innings while striking out four. Hope pitched a scoreless ninth, striking out two Dolphins.
Shippensburg is scheduled to finish its three-game series with Le Moyne with a doubleheader Friday beginning at 1 p.m. at Fairchild Field.
