Red Raiders Snap Skid with 9-5 Win Over No.2-ranked Tampa

TAMPA, Fla. - After dropping the double opener and its seventh-straight game, the Shippensburg baseball team rebounded in the nightcap using a complete game effort from sophomore Matt Wright (McClure/Mid-West) and three RBIs from junior Justin Garber (Elizabethtown/Elizabethtown) to upset second-ranked Tampa, 9-5.

In the first two games of the series against Tampa (20-4), the Red Raiders (4-10) had allowed 28 runs, but Wright (2-0) posted his first complete game in his four starts this season and allowed five runs, three of which were earned while scattering eight hits and fanning seven. On the season, Wright has a 2.23 ERA and 29 strikeouts in 24.2 innings of work.

The Red Raider bats also came to life, and eight runs marked the team's best offensive output of the season.

It was Tampa, however, that struck first, scoring in the bottom of the first, but Shippensburg tied the game in the second when senior Jamie Mengle (Mechanicsburg/Cumberland Valley) led off with a triple and senior Jared Boger (Lebanon/Cedar Crest) picked up an RBI with a groundout to the shortstop.

Shippensburg began to pull away in the third with five runs on six hits. After a leadoff single from junior Eric Dezell (Bel Air, Md./John Carroll), senior Eric Perlozzo (Cumberland, Md./Bishop Walsh) followed with a fielders choice and scored two batters later on an RBI single from Garber. Senior Scott Goss (Johnstown/Westmont Hilltop) kept things going with a single of his own and Mengle drove in Garber with another single. Goss scored when Boger drove in his second run of the day and Boger came across the plate on a throwing error. Sophomore Kasey Kuhns (Three Springs/Southern Huntingdon) then plated Mengle with an RBI single. Boger tacked on the sixth run of the inning following a passed ball.

Tampa managed to cut into the lead in the bottom of the third with three runs, but Ship added some insurance in the fourth with an RBI single from Garber and then picked up two runs in the sixth with Garber's third RBI and Mengle's second RBI, both of which coming on fielder's choices.

Perlozzo, Garber, Dezell and sophomore Tyler Redick (Fairfield/Walkersville (Md.))all notched two hits. Tampa's Kevin Ferguson suffered the loss after allowing seven runs, six of which were earned in 3.1 innings.

In the opening contest, Tampa pounded out 18 hits and 14 runs to notch a 14-1 victory. Three Spartans recorded homeruns, while Shippensburg's lone score came in the bottom of the ninth on Goss‚s team-leading third homer of the season.

Shippensburg used five pitchers in the opening affair, but it was senior starter Nathan Jones (Lititz/Warwick) (0-1) that shouldered the loss after allowing two runs and walking four without recording an out.

Tampa's Johnny Williams (4-0) remained perfect on the year after tossing seven shutout innings. Goss and sophomore Scott Stern (Martinsburg/Central) each totaled two hits for the Red Raiders.

Shippensburg continues its spring trip through Florida on Monday, March 12 with a 7 p.m. contest at St. Leo.

- Red Raider Baseball -