The Shippensburg University baseball team could not slow down the bats of homestanding West Chester on Friday, dropping both games of a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Eastern Division doubleheader to the Golden Rams by scores of 11-8 and 14-2 in action at the Maple Zone Sports Complex in Aston.
 
Shippensburg (15-17, 13-15 PSAC East) and West Chester (17-9, 17-9) played amidst the backdrop of a high wind warning, with gusts topping 50 mph at certain points of the day. The two teams combined for 15 extra-base hits (five home runs) and 19 walks.
 
In Game 1, Shippensburg scored four runs in the top of the first. JuJu Cason hit a leadoff home run, and Justin Darden and Morgan Wyatt delivered run-scoring singles.
 
WCU answered with one run in the bottom of the first and four in the bottom of the second to take the lead. SU trailed 8-4 after five innings but equaled the score in the sixth on a bases-loaded walk by Jackson LoBianco (Irvine, Cal./University) and a bases-clearing double by Tony Vavaroutsos.
 
Keith Flaherty hit a three-run home run in the bottom of the sixth that proved the decisive hit for the Golden Rams.
 
In Game 2, WCU jumped on the Raiders by scoring three runs in the first and four more in the second to take a 7-0 lead that proved insurmountable. SU's runs came by virtue of a solo home run off the bat of Andres Garcia and an RBI-groundout by Vavaroutsos.
 
Overall, Joe Barbera reached base four times in the doubleheader by going 1-for-2 with a double and three walks. He also scored twice. Darden and Garcia were the only Raiders with two hits, while Vavaroutsos finished with four RBIs.
 
Shippensburg enters the final week of the season on the outside of the PSAC playoff picture. To have a chance to qualify for the postseason, the Raiders will need to win their series with Bloomsburg and get some favorable results from other matchups.
 
The series with the Huskies begins Friday at Bloomsburg.