The Shippensburg University baseball team completed a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Eastern Division sweep of Shepherd on Saturday with a 5-4 win in Game 1 and a 4-2 win in Game 2 at Fairfax Field.
 
Shippensburg (10-17, 5-4 PSAC East) and Shepherd (8-11-1, 3-5-1 PSAC East) combined for 35 hits and 29 runners left on base in a close doubleheader. The Raiders had 20 hits on the day, including five for senior Ben Werkheiser and four by sophomore Joe Barbera.
 
In the three-game weekend series, Werkheiser was 6-for-12 at the plate with two home runs, a double and five RBIs. Dating back to 2021, Werkheiser is 14-for-24 (.583) with seven home runs and 12 RBIs in seven games against the Rams.
 
Sophomore Andrew Chronister also finished the series with six hits.
 
Shippensburg will host Lock Haven at 2 p.m. Friday at Fairchild Field.
 
Game 1: Shippensburg 5, Shepherd 4
 
SU took a 2-0 lead in the third inning. Freshman Carter Hinds started the scoring with a ground out that drove in Barbera. After a two-out double by graduate Matt Shilling, Werkheiser drove him in with a single to left field.
 
Shepherd got a solo homer in the third from Brennan Holmes and a solo homer in the fourth from Ryan Haddaway to tie the score. Werkheiser broke the tie in the fifth with a two-out, two-run homer that plated him and Shilling.
 
The Rams got a run back in the bottom half of the inning, but SU responded in the sixth with an RBI fielder's choice from Hinds.
 
Shepherd scored a run in the seventh off a triple and a wild pitch on a strikeout to make it a one-run game. With two outs, sophomore Jackson LoBianco attempted a pickoff throw that soared over junior first baseman Lake Lloyd, but Lloyd grabbed the ball off a fortunate carom and threw a dart to Hinds at second base for a caught stealing to end the game.
 
SU also had another important defensive play earlier in the game that saved a run. In the bottom of the fourth, Tommy Gibson hit a single to right field. With Joey Schwartz trotting toward the plate for a would-be run, Shilling threw a seed from right field that sniped the runner at second base after he had rounded the bag. The outfield assist occurred before Schwartz touched home, keeping the Rams off the scoreboard.
 
Junior Justin Darden, Chronister, Werkheiser, and Barbera all finished with multiple hits. The Raiders scored four of their five runs with two outs.
 
Junior Noah Nabholz went four innings for the win. He allowed two earned runs, walked one and struck out four. Lobianco got the final eight outs, striking out five, for his second save of the weekend and his third of the season.
 
Game 2: Shippensburg 4, Shepherd 2
 
After falling behind the early, the Raiders responded in the second inning with an RBI-single by Lloyd. Graduate JuJu Cason also scored in the inning to give SU a 2-1 lead. The Raiders scored twice more, once in the fourth off a double by Lloyd once in the eighth off a single down the line by Barbera.
 
Sophomore Gabe Stotler went 7.1 innings and allowed only two earned runs for the win. Stotler scattered six hits, walked three and struck out seven.
 
Sophomore Austen Labarre entered with two on and one out in the eighth and helped work the Raiders out of trouble. He got the final five outs for the save and struck out two.
 
Shepherd's Austin Crebs pitched seven innings, allowing three runs. Ross Mulhall went 3-for-4 with one walk, two RBIs and a solo homerun in the eighth.