The Shippensburg University baseball team fell in a nine-inning, nonconference clash against Pitt-Johnstown Tuesday afternoon at Point Stadium, 11-6.
Shippensburg (23-17) led 6-3 midway through the sixth before Pitt-Johnstown (15-27) rallied for eight straight runs, including a six-run outburst in the home half of the seventh.
The Raiders deployed six different pitchers for the mid-week makeup contest, with none of the six going more than two innings.
Kyle Ausgotharp made his first career start on the mound for SU and allowed three runs (two earned) in 1.2 innings of work. He was followed by consecutive scoreless frames from
Brenden Anderson,
Bryce Amos and
Franklin Muendel out of the SU 'pen.
Meanwhile, the Raider batting order plated a pair of runs in each of its first two at bats to build an early lead.
Ty Sherman and
Will Oates stroked RBI singles in the first, while Sherman and
AJ Wenrich collected RBI knocks in their next turn.
Sherman (4-for-5) matched his career high with four hits in total.
Wenrich doubled home a run in the fourth, and
Thomas Cano-Piszel launched his seventh home run of the season in the top of the sixth inning to give SU a 6-3 cushion.
The Raider pitching staff issued a total of 11 walks and hit three batters over the course of the game, which came back to bite them down the stretch.
A walk came around to score for UPJ during a two-run bottom of the sixth, and the first five Mountain Cat batters reached during their big sixth-inning rally – a sequence that included two hit batters – and all five scored.
The Raiders out-hit the Mountain Cats 13-to-11 in the game.
Tony Falvo finished 3-for-5 at the plate, while Wenrich reached base three times – finishing 2-for-4 with a walk and two runs batted in.
Brody Roberts went 3-for-5 with three runs scored for the Mountain Cats. Jared Downey (1-for-3) hit a two-run double during the host's big seventh-inning rally and finished with three driven in.
UPJ's Riley Roskopf got the win after firing 1.2 scoreless innings of relief.
The Raiders next travel to Mansfield for a doubleheader Thursday beginning at 1 p.m.
