The Shippensburg University baseball team opened its Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Eastern Division schedule by splitting a doubleheader Friday at Danny Litwhiler Field.
Shippensburg (14-7, 1-1 PSAC East) tagged the Huskies for seven runs in the top of the first and never looked back for a 17-5 victory in the opener.
Bloomsburg (9-10, 1-1) answered with a big first-inning rally in the nightcap, scoring four in the first and never trailing in a close 7-6 win.
Sophomore
Mason Morris went 5-for-6 at the plate (.833) in the doubleheader, including four hits in the Game 1 victory.
Junior
AJ Wenrich homered in both halves of the twinbill, giving him a team-best six home runs on the season. He also scored five runs.
Senior
Carter Hinds and freshman
Evan Shoffler totaled four hits. Hinds drove in six.
Shippensburg next hosts Bloomsburg for a doubleheader Saturday at Fairchild Field. First pitch of Game 1 is slated for 1 p.m.
Game 1: Shippensburg 17, Bloomsburg 5
The Raiders pounded 18 total hits in the seven-inning contest.
Morris led SU offensively, going a career-best 4-for-4 with a double and three runs scored. Shoffler, making his debut in the leadoff spot, reached base four times and scored a pair of runs – finishing 3-for-5 with a double.
The Raiders scored seven runs before recording their second out. A bad hop on a grounder by sophomore
Ty Sherman resulted in a two-run Bloomsburg error. Graduate
Carter Arbuthnot lined an opposite field two-run double, and senior
Carter Hinds stroked a two-run triple in the opening frame.
The Raiders eventually stretched their lead to 10-0, and later 13-3 after Wenrich launched a two-run homer as part of a seven-run top of the fifth.
Graduate
Jaxon Dalena had his strikeout stuff going on the mound, recording his first ten outs via punchout enroute to the win.
Graduate
Eric Bohenek took down the final three innings to earn the save.
Sherman finished 2-for-4 in Game 1, scoring twice and driving in three runs. Wenrich (2-for-3) scored three runs and drove in a pair.
Three Bloomsburg homers resulted in four of the Huskies' five runs. Drew Balestrini went deep twice, including a two-run shot off Dalena in the fourth. Brady Ebbert also homered.
Game 2: Bloomsburg 7, Shippensburg 6
The Raiders rallied in the top of the seventh inning but came up one run short in the nightcap.
SU three times cut the deficit to a single run, including in the top of the second. Morris stayed hot and singled home a pair and later scored on a Shoffler hit to make it 4-3.
Wenrich later lifted his second home run of the twinbill, a solo shot in the top of the fifth, and Hinds added a two-out RBI single in the frame to once again make it a one run game, 6-5.
After a Bloomsburg sacrifice fly in the sixth made it 7-5, three of the first four hitters walked to load the bases with one out in the top of the seventh.
Hinds followed with an RBI groundout, but Bloomsburg reliever Nolan Walker struck out the next batter to record the save and seal the Bloomsburg victory.
Hinds finished 2-for-4 with a pair of RBIs.
Sophomore
Conner Barto kept the Raiders in striking distance with a stellar 3.1 scoreless innings of relief. He allowed just two hits, walked one and recorded one strikeout.
Redshirt-senior
Cameron Goble started and junior
Jack Robinson pitched for the Raiders in relief.
