Bryant Spoils Buckwalter's Outing; Sweeps Two From Ship

SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. - Despite striking out 11 and allowing only four hits, Shippensburg University sophomore Ross Buckwalter (Ephrata, Pa./Ephrata) was denied his first win as the Bryant University baseball team edged out a 1-0 victory in game one of a doubleheader Sunday at Fairchild Field. The Bulldogs also took the victory game two, 9-2.
 
The Red Raiders (11-12), who were ranked at No. 21 in the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA)/Collegiate Baseball Newspaper NCAA Division II Poll this week, have lost 10 of their last 13 after starting the season 8-2. Exactly half of Shippensburg's losses, six out of 12, have been by just one run. The team has also totaled less than six hits in eight games this year and three or less runs in 12 games.
 
Mickey Ryan led of the third inning of game one with a strikeout for Bryant (6-6), but advanced to first on a wild pitch. He then stole second and scored the game's only run on a RBI-single up the middle by Daryle Crowley.
 
Buckwalter surrendered two of the four hits he gave up in the top of the first inning while striking out two. From there, he allowed only four batters to reach base, including one by error. Through the first four innings, Buckwalter totaled 10 strikeouts.
 
With one out in the bottom of the seventh and following a 45-minute rain delay, junior Jeremy Hess (Lancaster, Pa./Lampeter-Strasburg) doubled to right center, but would not get any further as Bulldog starter Matt Gaynor retired the next two hitters to end the game.
 
In game two, Bryant jumped out to a 4-0 lead after two innings before adding two runs in the fourth and three in the sixth. The Red Raiders committed five errors in the game, four of which led to four runs for the Bulldogs. Junior Nick Erdman (Leloa, Pa./Conestoga Valley) allowed the Bulldogs' first six runs, but only two were earned.
 
Crowley drove in two runs for Bryant in the second with a two-RBI single that came following a Shippensburg error that should have ended the inning. In the top of the fourth, both Bulldog runs came after three Red Raider errors.
 
Sophomore Scott Goss (Johnstown, Pa./Westmont Hilltop) drove in Shippensburgπs first run in the third with a RBI-ground out to short, scoring sophomore Justin Garber (Elizabethtown, Pa./Elizabethtown). The teamπs other run came in the fourth when Garber singled up the middle to score sophomore Ryan Bucher (Lebanon, Pa./Cedar Crest).
 
The Red Raiders play Pace University at home on Wednesday, March 23 in a doubleheader that begins at 1:00 p.m.

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