Baseball Splits Season-Opener With Mount Olive

MOUNT OLIVE, N.C. - The Shippensburg University baseball team opened the 2005 campaign with a doubleheader split with Mount Olive College, winning the first game 7-4 in a 10 inning thriller, then dropping the second contest 10-4.
 
With the score tied 4-4 after 9 innings, the Red Raiders (1-1) scored three runs in the top of the 10th inning for the victory. With runners on first and second, senior Ryan Miscik (Mt. Pleasant, Pa./Mt. Pleasant) drove in the winning run when he singled to right field, and an error by the Mount Olive right fielder sent sophomore Jared Bucher (Lebanon, Pa./Cedar Crest) across the plate to score.
 
Mount Olive (3-4) walked senior Chad Stecker (Saylorsburg, Pa./Pleasant Valley), junior Eric Perlozzo (Cumberland, Md./Bishop Walsh) and sophomore Jared Boger (Lebanon, Pa./Cedar Crest) to send two more runs across the plate in the inning.
 
Shippensburg pulled out to a 3-1 lead after the first three innings, before Mount Olive came back to score two runs in the bottom of the fourth to tie the score 3-3.
 
The Trojans nearly scored the winning run in the bottom of the seventh. Junior Nick Erdman (Leola, Pa./Conestoga Valley) threw out the potential winning run at the plate, and Perlozzo made a diving stop on a hard-hit ground ball to get Shippensburg out of the inning unscathed.
 
Shippensburg was led at the plate by Stecker, who went 3-for-4 and scored 2 runs. Miscik went 3-for-5 with 2 RBI, scoring 2 runs. Junior Brad Berner (Media, Pa./Penncrest) also went 3-for-5.
 
Sophomore Frank D'Agostino (Pine Grove, Pa./Pine Grove) recorded the win, pitching three innings in relief. Sophomore Ross Buckwalter (Ephrata, Pa./Ephrata) started the game, going 5 innings with 3 strikeouts. Brett Williams was the losing pitcher for the Trojans.
 
In game two, Mount Olive scored seven runs in the first two innings off Shippensburg starter senior Lee McClintock (Carlisle, Pa./Carlisle).
 
The Red Raiders came back to cut the lead to 7-4 over the next three innings. Stecker got Shippensburg on the board in the third inning with a home run to right center field, and Perlozzo crossed the plate on a fielders choice from sophomore Jamie Mengle (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cumberland Valley).
 
Bucher scored in the fourth inning off a sacrifice fly from Miscik, while Perlozzo scored his second run of the game in the fifth inning after freshman Jared Ellis (Lancaster, Pa./Manheim Township) grounded out to shortstop.
 
Mount Olive scored three insurance runs in the final innings to clinch the victory. Bryan Corbett pitched the complete game for the Trojans, and gets his first win of the year.
 
Stecker went 2-for-4 at the plate, driving in one and scoring once. Perlozzo went 2-for-3 with 2 runs scored.
 
The Red Raiders play a second doubleheader against Mount Olive on Sunday, February 13.

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