The Shippensburg University baseball team and Mansfield combined for eleven home runs on the day as the Raiders split with the Mounties in a high-scoring Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Eastern Division doubleheader Friday at Joseph Shaute Field.
Shippensburg (21-17, 8-10 PSAC East) salvaged the split with a 23-6 victory in Game 2 after Mansfield (12-22, 6-12) took the opener, 14-3.
Both contests featured early knockout punches, with both teams batting around in the first inning of their respective victories. Mansfield scored 11 runs in the first inning of the opener, while Shippensburg plated seven runs in the first during the nightcap.
Senior
Gio Calamia totaled six hits in the doubleheader, including a 5-for-5 performance in the nightcap. He launched a pair of homers and finished with five RBIs and four runs scored.
Senior
Bryce Herb finished with four hits, going 4-for-5 in Game 2. Junior
AJ Wenrich and sophomore
Ty Sherman contributed three hits in the doubleheader.
Wenrich and Sherman both went deep in Game 2. Wenrich totaled three runs scored and four driven in. Sherman scored three times and drove in four, while Herb contributed two runs scored and three RBIs in just five plate appearances.
The 23 runs in the nightcap matched their most runs scored in a game since March 7, 2008 – a 27-3 win over Northwood.
The Raiders next host Mounties for a doubleheader Saturday at Fairchild Field. Game 1 will get underway at 1 p.m.
Game 1: Mansfield 14, Shippensburg 3
Game 1 got away from Shippensburg early, as Mansfield's first 11 batters reached base and scored in the bottom of the first inning. The Mountaineers slugged nine hits, including three home runs in the frame.
Freshman reliever
Thomas Davenport entered the game with nobody out in the first and ended up pitching a career-high five innings out of the SU 'pen. He allowed four hits, three earned runs and struck out two.
Sophomore
Mason Morris was 2-for-3 with an RBI single.
Senior
Carter Hinds also registered two hits, while graduate
Carter Arbuthnot had an RBI single in the game.
Jacob Houtz (twice), Ryan Sekulski and Ryan Scott went deep for the Mounties. Houtz finished with a game-high four driven in.
Mansfield starter Austin Beauchamp scattered nine hits and three unearned runs over six innings to pick up the win.
Game 2: Shippensburg 23, Mansfield 6
Shippensburg turned the tables on the host Mounties by sending 12 batters to the plate in the top of the first inning of Game 2.
Wenrich launched an opposite field three-run homer – his tenth of the season – to give Shippensburg a 3-0 lead three batters in, while freshman
Evan Shoffler and Hinds added two-out, two-run singles in the seven-run half inning.
The Raiders extended their already large lead to 16-0 through the top of the fourth. Sherman launched a three-run bomb as the Raiders once again batted around in the third, and Calamia smacked a two-run homer in the fourth.
Calamia later put the cherry on top of his big offensive afternoon with a three-run shot in the sixth.
Sophomore
Conner Barto started on the mound and cruised to victory. The right hander surrendered two runs on three hits over five frames and recorded five punchouts.
Shane Stossel, Houtz and Kahlae Burns hit homers for Mansfield.
