The Shippensburg University baseball team scored in its final at-bat in both games of Friday's Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Eastern Division doubleheader at Kutztown to achieve a sweep of the Golden Bears, winning by scores of 2-1 and 11-6 in action at North Campus Field.
Shippensburg (15-5, 2-0 PSAC East) picked up its first road sweep at Kutztown (7-8, 0-2) since the 2023 season. The Raiders out-hit the Golden Bears 21-7 and drew 13 walks on the day.
Sophomore
Will Oates and junior
Jake Pope each had four hits; Oates reached base seven times overall by virtue of three walks. Seven Raiders recorded multiple hits.
SU pitching did not allow an extra-base hit in the doubleheader, scattering seven singles over the course of the two games.
Shippensburg will host Kutztown at 1 p.m. tomorrow at Fairchild Field for a doubleheader to conclude the series.
Game 1: Shippensburg 2, Kutztown 1
Junior
Conner Barto had a no-hitter going into the sixth and the Raiders only allowed one hit in the entire game yet were in danger of losing, as the Golden Bears took the lead in bottom of the sixth on a sacrifice fly.
The decisive top of the seventh began with back-to-back walks against KU closer Logan Woodward – the first was worked by Oates and the second by freshman pinch hitter
Caden Lloyd. Senior
AJ Wenrich then hit a single to center field that tied the game at 1-1.
After a double-play ball, Lloyd stood on third with two outs. Sophomore
Thomas Cano-Piszel hit the first pitch he saw into left field for an RBI-single that proved to be the difference.
Barto earned the win, allowing the lone hit and four walks while striking out five. Senior
Jack Robinson earned his fifth save; he worked around a hit-by-pitch to the leadoff batter in the bottom of the seventh with a strikeout to end the game.
SU stranded 10 runners on base through the first six innings against Golden Bear starter Abel Saft, who issued six walks, allowed four singles and threw two wild pitches while recording one strikeout over six shutout frames.
Neither team had an extra-base hit. Wenrich and Cano-Piszel each reached base three times, going 2-for-3 with a walk. The Raiders drew eight walks in total.
Game 2: Shippensburg 11, Kutztown 6 (8 innings)
Kutztown held a 3-1 lead through five innings, scoring twice on a throwing error in the bottom of the first and adding another run in the second on a Bo Barthol RBI-single. SU's first run was courtesy of an RBI-double in the second inning by junior catcher
Mason Morris.
It set the stage for a wild final three innings. SU erupted for five runs in the sixth and took a 6-3 lead into the bottom of the seventh. The Golden Bears had other plans in the bottom of the seventh, scoring three runs against Robinson to tie the score. With new life in extra innings, the Raider bats went off once again with five more runs to create the final scoring margin.
In the top of the sixth, SU loaded the bases with nobody out on an Oates single and back-to-back walks issued to redshirt-sophomore
Brady Harbach and Wenrich. After a strikeout, SU scored one on a wild pitch and then took a 4-3 lead on a two-run single by Lloyd.
With two outs, sophomore
Kyle Ausgotharp sent a 3-1 pitch down the right-field line for an RBI-triple, and one pitch after that, Pope singled him home to make it 6-3.
The bottom of the seventh started out ominously for Shippensburg, as the first three batters drew walks against Robinson – who was seeking his second save of the day. After a strikeout, Jared Ferguson hit a 2-2 pitch up the middle for a two-run single, and Nick Varda followed by depositing a 3-2 pitch through the right side for a game-tying RBI single.
With the winning run on third base with just one out, Robinson struck out Joel Bonner on three pitches and then induced a comebacker to end the KU threat and send the game into extras.
From there, the SU bats did the rest. After Morris drew a leadoff walk, Ausgotharp launched a two-run homer to make it 8-6. Back-to-back singles by Pope and sophomore
Evan Shoffler prefaced a two-run double by Oates, who later came around to score on a sacrifice fly by Wenrich.
Robinson earned the win while freshman
Nathan Lake got the final three outs in the bottom of the eighth.
Sophomore
Jacob Dennis entered the game out of the bullpen for the bottom of the third inning and was excellent. Dennis threw four shutout innings, allowing a lone single while striking out two.
Freshman
Jonah Mayer got the start and threw the first two innings.
