Red Raider Baseball Evens Record with Twinbill Sweep of Wingate
Feb. 17, 2007
WINGATE, N.C. - With a sparkling pitching performance from sophomore Matt Wright (McClure/Mid-West) and a clutch homer from sophomore catcher Sean Killian (Columbia/Hempfield), the Shippensburg Red Raiders completed a doubleheader sweep of Wingate and boosted their record to 3-3 Saturday afternoon.
While the Red Raider offense was slow to get started, Wright (1-0) blazed
his way through the Wingate offense, taking a no-hitter (with just two
walks) through six full innings.
With the score knotted at 0-0 and two outs in the top of the seventh, sophomore
Jason Kelly (Harrisburg/Central Dauphin) started a rally with a single
to right center, and senior Brandon White (State College/State
College) kept
things rolling with a single to left. Killian then gave Ship a 3-0 lead
with his first homer of the season.
Wingate managed to get one run back in the bottom of the frame, but senior Brian Boylan (Tannersville/Pocono Mountain) entered in relief and picked up the final out of the inning to earn the save and solidify the Shippensburg win.
Killian, Kelly and White all finished the game with two hits.
Wingate's Tyler Almond (0-1) suffered the loss after
allowing three runs in tossing 6.2 innings.
In the opening game of the afternoon, senior Ross Buckwalter (Ephrata/Ephrata) registered his second win in as many starts after allowing two runs
and striking out five and walking none in seven innings of work.
The Red Raiders struck early, scoring four runs in the first two innings. Wingate notched runs in the third and fourth to cut into the lead, but Ship added insurance runs in the fifth and sixth with RBIs from Killian and sophomore Timothy Freshour (Johnstown/Richland). In the eighth, senior Jamie Mengle (Mechanicsburg/Cumberland Valley) blasted his first homer of the season to build the lead to 7-2.
That homer proved to be vital to the Red Raider cause, as Wingate tallied four runs off the Red Raider bullpen in the bottom of the eighth, but junior Kyle Warner (Berrysburg/Upper Dauphin) sealed the Ship win and notched his first save the season by tossing the final 1.1 innings without surrendering a run.
Mengle and senior Scott Goss (Johnstown/Westmont
Hilltop) led
the Red Raiders with three hits apiece. Freshour and junior
Eric Dezell
(Bel
Air, Md./John
Carroll) each chipped in a pair of hits.
In two starts this season, Buckwalter has tossed 14 innings
and struck out 11 while walking zero, turning in an ERA of
1.92 and
a WHIP of
0.93.
Ship returns to action on Sun., Feb. 18 with a nine-inning contest at Wingate. Game time is scheduled for 2 p.m.
- Red Raider Baseball -
