SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. – After a cold start, the Shippensburg University baseball team heated up in a big way Monday to split a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Eastern Division doubleheader on a cold, blustery afternoon at Fairchild Field, 8-3 and 13-4.
 
Shippensburg (8-5, 2-2 PSAC East) received a combined nine RBIs from junior Gio Calamia and freshman Brady Harbach in a runaway victory in the nightcap.
 
Calamia stroked an opposite-field three-run blast to put the Raiders up 5-0 in the second inning of the Game 2 and later added a two-run single. He went 3-for-4 with five RBIs and three runs scored in the Game 2 win.
 
Harbach launched his first collegiate home run in grand style, hitting a towering grand slam in the bottom of the sixth to blow the game wide open.
 
Harbach finished 2-for-4 with four RBIs and a run scored.
 
Mansfield (6-7, 2-2) held the Raiders scoreless through the first five innings of the twinbill, thanks to an outstanding outing from Game 1 winning pitcher Ryan King. The Mountie starter scattered five hits over 4.2 and struck out four in the seven-inning contest.
 
SU junior infielder Carter Arbuthnot (3-for-7, three RBIs) totaled three doubles and three RBIs in the doubleheader.
 
Up next, the Raiders will travel to Wilmington (Del.) for a nine-inning contest Tuesday at 3 p.m.
 
Game 1: Mansfield 8, Shippensburg 3
 
The Raiders were unable to get the big hit when needed during the Game 1 setback.
 
The Mounties played front-runner, scoring runs in the second, fourth and fifth to jump out to a 3-0 edge.
 
Ryan Verbonitz continued the visitors' fifth-inning rally with a with a two-out, two run double to left-center, and repeated the feat an inning later to give the Mounties an insurmountable lead, 8-0.
 
Verbonitz finished 2-for-4 with four RBIs in the contest. Cole Serfass and Ryan Scott recorded three hits apiece and combined for three runs scored for Mansfield.
 
Shippensburg threatened down 2-0 in the home half of the fourth when an Arbuthnot double put runners on second and third with only one out, but King was able to retire the next two batters to leave the runners stranded.
 
A Ty Sherman single and a Carter Hinds walk chased King with one gone in the fifth. Mansfield reliever Alex Bucolo then came on and extinguished the rally, keeping the Raiders scoreless.

The Raiders bats started heating up late in the contest. Sherman stroked a sixth-inning two-out out single to drive in the Raiders' first run.
 
An inning later, Hinds doubled and scored on an Andrew Chronister sacrifice fly. Arbuthnot then doubled to drive in the Raiders' third and final run.
 
SU starting pitcher Gabe Stotler was charged with five runs in 4.2 innings of work. He struck out five and walked none.
 
Arbuthnot, Chronister, Sherman and senior Austin Baal each registered a pair of hits in the loss.
 
Game 2: Shippensburg 13, Mansfield 4
 
Unlike Game 1, the Raiders thrived with runners in scoring position in the nightcap.
 
Arbuthnot stroked his third double of the day with a pair of men on in the first, driving in both base runners to stake SU to an early 2-0 lead.
 
An inning later, freshman Erby Weller kick-started another Shippensburg rally with his first collegiate hit – a wind-aided triple – ahead of Calamia's three-run blast.
 
After Mansfield pushed a pair of runs across in the top of the fourth, Chronister quelled the Mountie momentum with a tremendous at bat to push a run across in the Raiders' next turn. The SU backstop fouled off seven pitches in the epic 13-pitch encounter before slapping an RBI single through the right side.
 
Coakley homered as Mansfield rallied for two more in the fifth, but then Calamia singled home his fourth and fifth RBIs of contest to put the Raiders back up five, 9-4.
 
Freshman Caleb Newcomer also collected his first collegiate RBI on a groundball in the frame.
 
Harbach put the game to rest in the bottom of the sixth, teeing off on a 1-0 pitch with the bases loaded to make it 13-4 Shippensburg.
 
Weller finished with two hits and two runs scored in what was his first collegiate start.
 
SU starting pitcher J.T Weaver allowed a total of four runs in 4.2 innings to earn the win in the seven-inning affair. He struck out five and walked one.