SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. – The Shippensburg University baseball team drew back-to-back walks with two outs and the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth on Tuesday to win 7-6 against Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Western Division opponent IUP on a rainy day at Fairchild Field.
 
Shippensburg (22-20) first took the lead off a fourth-inning solo home run from graduate JuJu Cason. IUP (23-18) answered with a three-run home run in the fifth inning off the bat of Harrison Pontoli.
 
After another IUP run in the seventh that put the Crimson Hawks up 4-1, the Raiders responded with four runs in the bottom half. Freshman Carter Hinds first drove in sophomore Andrew Chronister with an RBI triple, and then graduate Jordan Yoder brought Hinds home on a single through the right side. Afterward, Cason hit his second home run of the day, a two-run home run to center field, to give the Raiders a 5-4 lead. It marks Cason's first multi-home run game of his collegiate career.
 
The lead was short lived, as in the top of eighth inning, IUP's Torrey Roper and Jake Cherry drove in runs to put the Crimson Hawks back on top 6-5.
 
In the bottom of the ninth inning, sophomore Jafari Williams worked a walk on a full count and then stole second. Cason and senior Ben Werkheiser both walked on 3-1 counts to load the bases.
 
With two outs, Justin Darden fouled off the first pitch and then drew four straight balls to draw the walk and tie the game and bring redshirt-sophomore Justin Byler to the plate. Byler faced three straight balls, took a strike, and then fouled off a pitch to make the count full at 3-2. On the payoff pitch Byler took the pitch low in the dirt for ball four which brought Cason home for the walk-off victory. Werkheiser, Darden and Byler all drew their walks with two outs in the ninth inning.
 
Sophomore Kaleb Sophy got the start for Shippensburg today and went five innings, giving up three runs on two hits and struck out three. He did not allow a hit through the first four innings of the game.
 
Sophomore Ethan Miller, redshirt-freshman Cameron Goble, sophomore Austen Labarre and sophomore Jackson LoBianco (the winning pitcher) all pitched in relief. They combined to allow three runs on two hits and struck out three.
 
Shippensburg will start a three-game series with PSAC Eastern Division opponent Mansfield at 2 p.m. Friday at Shaute Field at Mansfield.