The Shippensburg University baseball team lost both games of a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Eastern Division twinbill at Bloomsburg on Sunday, falling 5-4 and 10-8 in action at sunny Danny Litwhiler Field.
 
Shippensburg (17-10, 4-4) put forth spirited comeback bids in both games. SU trailed 4-0 after four innings in the opener yet ultimately tied the game in the top of the seventh. In Game 2, the Raiders trailed 10-2 entering the seventh inning but proceeded to score six times without an out – punctuated by a grand slam off the bat of Brady Harbach. The tying run got to the plate with one out before the rally ended.
 
SU out-hit the Huskies on the day 20-10, but committed five errors, walked 11 batters and left 15 runners on base.
 
Bloomsburg (15-6, 5-3) completed its first-ever series sweep of the Raiders in conference play to pull ahead in the divisional standings.
 
Shippensburg returns to action at 1 p.m. Friday when it hosts Millersville for a league doubleheader at Fairchild Field.
 
Game 1: Bloomsburg 5, Shippensburg 4
 
The Huskies built a 4-0 lead through four innings on the strength of a pair of two-run singles. Grant Russo got the hosts on the board in the second inning, and replacement second baseman Jeremy Cawley doubled the lead in the fourth.
 
The Raiders used a two-out rally in the fifth inning to begin their comeback. With Lucas Ream on second base after a leadoff single, Jake Pope doubled to left-center field to bring him home.
 
Two pitches later, Thomas Cano-Piszel sent an 0-1 offering over the wall in left-center field for his second home run of the season to make the score 4-3. SU continued to threaten, as Ty Sherman legged out an infield single and Caden Lloyd walked, but a strikeout ended the frame.
 
Shippensburg tied the game in the seventh against Husky closer Xander Velez. A leadoff single by Will Oates preceded Pope being hit a by pitch. A wild pitch then put both runners in scoring position with nobody out.
 
After Velez struck out Cano-Piszel to cap off a seven-pitch battle, AJ Wenrich came off the bench to pinch hit. Wenrich hit a ball to shortstop Jace Jarmon, who threw home in attempt to cut down the lead runner, but Oates slid in safely to tie the score on the fielder's choice. Velez hunkered down and kept the game tied with back-to-back strikeouts.
 
The Huskies won the game in the bottom of the seventh on an error. With runners on first and second with one out, Nathan Kress lined out. SU attempted to double up the runner at second base, but the throw got away and went out of play, which allowed Cawley to score.
 
Bloomsburg starting pitcher Aiden Murphy entered Sunday having allowed just one earned run through his first five appearances (26.1 innings). Murphy ended up with a no-decision, allowing season highs of eight hits and three runs in six innings while striking out a season-low two batters.
 
Kaleb Maksimik battled through six innings for the Raiders, allowing four runs (three earned) on four hits. Maksimik walked four and struck out four. He also worked out of a pickle in the bottom of the first inning by recording a strikeout and inducing a groundout to strand runners on second and third.
 
Game 2: Bloomsburg 10, Shippensburg 8
 
Bloomsburg scored two runs in the bottom of the first without a hit. The Huskies loaded the bases with nobody out on a pair of walks with a hit batter sandwiched between. The first run scored on a fielder's choice grounder, and the second scored on a squeeze bunt in which the Raiders could not get the out at home plate.
 
Brenden Anderson escaped further damage by getting a groundout to end the inning that left the bases loaded.
 
The Huskies added an unearned run in the second, but the Raiders countered with single runs in the third and the fourth. Pope got SU on the board with an RBI-double in the third – plating Oates after a one-out walk.
 
In the fourth, Sherman singled and Harbach was hit by a pitch to put two on with none out. Ream singled home Sherman, but Husky starter Bryce Danish responded with back-to-back strikeouts and a groundout.
 
Bloomsburg broke the game open with six runs in the bottom of the fourth.
 
Shippensburg put everything it had into the seventh-inning comeback bid. The inning began with a Mike Heckman single, an Oates single and Pope being hit to load the bases. Back-to-back RBI-singles by Cano-Piszel and Sherman made it 10-4.
 
That chased Husky reliever Matt Marston and brought Landon Lorson out of the pen. Two pitches into his appearance, Harbach launched a home run inside the left-field foul pole – suddenly making it a 10-8 game. After a flyout, Wenrich came off the bench again to pinch hit and doubled – with Caleb Newcomer replacing him on the basepaths.
 
Lorson worked back-to-back flyouts to end the game.
 
Anderson threw 3.1 innings, allowing four runs (three earned). Bryce Amos faced nine batters in the fourth. Jacob Dennis got the final six outs, allowing an unearned run while striking out two.