SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. – The Shippensburg University baseball team split a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) doubleheader with No. 25 West Chester Saturday on a breezy day from Fairchild Field.
 
Shippensburg (8-12-1, 3-3 PSAC) dropped Game 1 of the doubleheader to West Chester (13-4, 5-1) by a score of 1-0. The Raiders salvaged a split with a victory in Game 2 by a score of 6-5.
 
Sophomore Drew Bene lead the Raiders offensively going 4-for-6 with one RBI. Senior Ryan McMillen finished the day 3-for-7 with two runs scored.
 
SU started junior Gabe Mosser in Game 1 and redshirt-freshman Zack Sims in Game 2. Junior Andy Crum and sophomore Michael Hope pitched out of the bullpen in Game 2 with Crum recording the win and Hope collecting the save.
 
Shippensburg and West Chester will finish their four-game set tomorrow at 1 p.m. at Serpico Stadium in West Chester.
 
Game 1
 
The Raiders were led by Mosser, who turned in his best performance of the season. The junior from Parkland threw a complete game in the loss, giving up just two hits and one run while striking out 11. It was the third time Mosser has struck out more than 10 batters in a game in his career and the second time he has achieved the feat this season. Mosser was able to strike out the side in two of the seven innings he pitched.
 
Offensively, the Raiders out-hit the Golden Rams 5-2, but were unable to find a way to get on the board. Bene was perfect from the plate going 3-for-3. McMillen and sophomore Cash Gladfelter were the only other Raiders to record a hit, with Glatfelter's being a double.
 
West Chester scored its lone run in the fourth and Jon Fisher was able to keep the Raiders bats at bay the rest of the game to secure the win for the Golden Rams.
 
Game 2
 
West Chester got on the board first with a two-run home run from Jared Melone in the top of the first. The Golden Rams extended their lead in the third by adding two runs, one on a single to right and the other on a wild pitch.
 
Sims went 2.2 innings for the Raiders striking out two. Crum came out of the bullpen to relieve Sims in the third.
 
Facing a 4-0 deficit, SU got one run back in the bottom of the fourth on an RBI double from Gladfelter that scored McMillen. Crum then delivered a clean top half of the fifth to keep the momentum in the Raiders favor heading to the home half.
 
Junior Nick Spangler led off the bottom of the fifth with a walk which was then followed by a single to right by junior Grant Hoover to put runners on first and second with nobody out.
 
After West Chester recorded the first out, McMillen reached on a fielder's choice to load the bases with just one out. The Golden Rams were then able to induce a pop out to record the second out with junior Dalton Hoiles due up for SU.
 
Hoiles delivered the first of three straight two-out hits: a line drive single to right that plated both Spangler and Hoover to cut the West Chester advantage to 4-3. Senior Jake Kennedy followed Hoiles with a single of his own to score McMillen and tie the game at 4-4.
 
Following Kennedy, Bene continued his hot hitting with a single to left to drive in Hoiles and give the Raiders their first lead of the day. In total, the Raiders scored four runs on four hits with all four runs crossing the plate with two outs in the inning.
 
Hope entered in the sixth with a runner on second and two outs. Hope was able to record the third out via strikeout and preserve a one-run lead heading into the home half of the sixth.
 
SU tacked on an insurance run in the sixth to take a two-run lead to the final inning. West Chester pulled within one after Melone hit his second home run over the center-field fence. However, Hope was able to get two fly outs to end the game and record a four-out save and preserve the win for SU.