Four-Run Ninth Leads Baseball Past West Chester, 10-6

March 24, 2005

WEST CHESTER, Pa. - The Shippensburg University baseball team totaled a season-high 10 runs and 17 hits en route to a 10-6 victory against West Chester University Thursday afternoon at Serpico Stadium. The victory ends a three-game losing streak for the Red Raiders.

Junior Nick Erdman (Leola, Pa./Conestoga Valley) went 4-for-5 with three RBI, including the game-winning RBI in the top of the ninth. With the score tied at 6-6, Erdman doubled to score senior Chad Stecker (Saylorsburg, Pa./Pleasant Valley) from third after he led of the inning with a double and had advanced to third on a wild pitch.

Junior Jeremy Hess (Lancaster, Pa./Lampeter-Strasburg) followed with a RBI-single and sophomore Jamie Mengle (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cumberland Valley) hit a two-RBI double to score Hess and sophomore Jared Boger (Lebanon, Pa./Cedar Crest), adding to the Shippensburg lead.

Sophomore Frank D'Agostino (Pine Grove, Pa./Pine Grove) retired three of the four batters he faced in the bottom of the ninth to earn his fourth win of the season.

Shippensburg (12-12) trailed 3-2 heading into the seventh inning, but scored four runs to take a 6-3 lead. Like the ninth, Erdman also had a RBI-single in the inning to score Stecker, breaking a 3-3 tie and give the Red Raiders a one-run lead. Junior Eric Perlozzo (Cumberland, Md./Bishop Walsh) scored on error by the catcher before Erdman scored on a sacrifice fly by Boger.

However, the Golden Rams (10-7) scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh to tie the game at 6-6, highlighted by a two-RBI single by Brett Wallace.

Senior Lee McClintock (Carlisle, Pa./Carlisle) got the start for Shippensburg, allowing nine hits and three runs, two earned, while striking out three. He left the game after the sixth inning as D'Agostino entered the game in relief, scattering five hits and allowing three runs. After the seventh, D'Agostino held West Chester scoreless and surrenderd just two hits over the final two innings.

In the first meeting between the two teams on March 15, the Red Raiders totaled only five hits in an 8-2 loss at Fairchild Field. On Thursday, five players had at least two hits for Shippensburg, led by Erdman's four. Stecker went 3-for-4 with three runs scored and Perlozzo was 3-for-5 with a RBI and run scored. The first three hitters in the lineup for the Red Raiders, Stecker, Perlozzo and Erdman, combined to go 10-for-14 with four RBI and six runs.

Shippensburg returns home to face East Stroudsburg University in a doubleheader on Saturday at Fairchild Field. First pitch is scheduled for Noon.

- Red Raider Baseball -