SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. – The Shippensburg University baseball team opened its 2021 home schedule on a gorgeous Friday afternoon at Fairchild Field but came up short in a pair of games against No. 38 East Stroudsburg, falling to the Warriors by scores of 13-5 and 3-2.
 
Shippensburg (0-4, 0-2 PSAC East) managed just seven hits over two games against East Stroudsburg (3-2, 2-0), while the Warriors unleashed 14 hits – six of which were home runs. ESU hit five homers in Game 1, while sophomore Justin Darden hit a two-run home run in Game 2 to supply the Raider runs in the nightcap.
 
The Raiders used six pitchers in the doubleheader – four in Game 1 and two in Game 2. Redshirt-sophomore Kiernan Higgins started the opener and graduate Kyle Lysy pitched Game 2. Lysy threw six innings, allowing three runs (two earned) on three hits while striking out nine, and has struck out 14 batters over his first two starts of the season.
 
Game 1
The opener was not one for baseball purists – the two teams combined for 19 walks (12 by SU pitchers, seven by ESU), 14 wild pitches (nine by SU, five by ESU) and five hit batters (three by SU, two by ESU).
 
Shippensburg opened the scoring in the bottom of the first by manufacturing a run without the benefit of a hit. Sophomore Tony Vavaroutsos struck out but reached first on a wild pitch. He moved to second on a failed pickoff attempt, sophomore Lake Lloyd was hit with one out, and junior Ben Werkheiser drew a two-out walk that loaded the bases. Another wild pitch plated Vavaroutsos.
 
The Raiders got three runs in the sixth – one on a bases-loaded balk – and two on a double by Lloyd. Freshman Morgan Wyatt delivered an RBI-groundout in the seventh for one more SU run.
 
Higgins threw four innings for Shippensburg, allowing five runs on five hits. He walked six and struck out three. Sophomore Noah Nabholz got the final three outs of the seventh inning, striking out the side.
 
Brainy Rojas and Carson Freeman, the top two hitters in the ESU order, combined to go 6-for-8 with four home runs, nine RBIs, two walks and seven runs scored. Freeman had a three-run homer in the fourth that tilted the game in ESU's favor and added a grand slam in the seventh. Anthony Torreaulas also homered for the visitors.
 
Game 2
The nightcap was a splendid pitcher's duel between Lysy and East Stroudsburg's Cam Voss. The two teams combined for just seven hits.
 
East Stroudsburg took a 1-0 lead in the first on the third home run of the day by Freeman, a one-out solo shot. Lysy struck out five in the first two innings, including the side in the top of the second. Darden's two-run homer came in the bottom of the second, and through four innings, the score was 2-1 in SU's favor.
 
The Warriors led off the fifth with a walk and a single, and Lysy responded by inducing an infield fly and then got a strikeout. With two outs, Rojas hit a single into right field that scored one run, and an errant relay back into the diamond allowed a second run to score on the play.
 
SU had chances in its final two at-bats but could not get the tying run. Werkheiser drew a leadoff walk in the sixth and eventually got to third base via two wild pitches but was stranded there. Graduate JuJu Cason led off the bottom of the seventh with a single, and stole second base with one out, but a pair of strikeouts ended the game.
 
Freshman Austen Labarre pitched a scoreless seventh, navigating around a hit, walk and hit batter.
 
Voss struck out 11 in a complete-game effort for East Stroudsburg, allowing two runs on three hits while walking five.
 
Up Next
Shippensburg heads to Creekview Park on Saturday for a 1 p.m. doubleheader at East Stroudsburg.

Some photos from Game 1 of Friday's PSAC East baseball matchup against East Stroudsburg from Fairchild Field. The...
Posted by Shippensburg University Athletics on Friday, March 12, 2021