Red Raider Baseball Pushes Win Streak to Five with 8-5 Upset Win at No. 19 West Chester
Mar. 28, 2007
SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. - Trailing 4-1 with only five outs left, the Shippensburg Red Raider baseball team rallied, scoring seven runs on five hits and two West Chester errors in the eighth inning to notch its fifth-straight victory and knock off No. 19-ranked West Chester at Serpico Stadium Wednesday evening.
The win over nationally-ranked West Chester (11-5) gives the Red Raiders (8-10) two victories over top-25 teams during their five-game winning streak. Ship defeated No. 2-ranked Tampa on Mar. 10.
Sparking Wednesday's victory was senior Justin Garber (Elizabethtown/Elizabethtown), who's 4-for-5 outing matched a career high for hits in a game. He also tallied one RBI and scored once. The Red Raider attack, however, was balanced, as nine different batters recorded base hits.
On the mound, Shippensburg's by-committee approach of four pitchers each throwing more than one inning proved effective. Senior Brian Boylan (Tannersville/Pocono Mountain), making his first career start, tossed a career-high four innings and surrendered three runs, only one of which was earned, and struck out a pair of Golden Rams.
Garber singled sophomore Tyler Redick (Fairfield/Walkersville (Md.)) in the top of the first for 1-0 lead, but Matt Cotelleese singled in two runs in the bottom of the first inning for the Golden Rams, putting Boylan on the hook for the loss. West Chester picked up another run in the third, and West Chester starter James Rundatz cruised through six innings, allowing just the one run.
Shippensburg‚ senior reliever Stephen Slatcoff (Windber/Windber) kept the Red Raiders close by blanking West Chester in the fifth and the sixth innings, but West Chester boosted the lead to 4-1 in the seventh off of senior Ross Buckwalter (Ephrata/Ephrata).
But in the eighth, sophomore Jason Kelly (Harrisburg/Central Dauphin) got things started with a single to left. Sophomore Kasey Kuhns (Three Springs/Southern Huntingdon), senior Eric Perlozzo (Cumberland, Md./Bishop Walsh) and Garber all followed with RBI singles, and sophomore Timothy Freshour (Johnstown/Richland), senior Scott Goss (Johnstown/Westmont Hilltop) and Redick all scored courtesy of two West Chester errors.
West Chester managed to get one back in the bottom of the frame, but senior Kyle Warner (Berrysburg/Upper Dauphin) entered and escaped a bases loaded jam and then worked a shutout ninth to notch his fourth save of the season.
Buckwalter, while giving up two runs in 1.2 innings, notched the mound victory and improved to 4-0 on the season.
Perlozzo finished with two hits, a run and an RBI, while senior Jared Boger (Lebanon/Cedar Crest) also notched two hits. Goss‚s hit pushed his hitting-streak to nine games.
The Red Raiders open PSAC Western Division play on Friday with a doubleheader at Clarion. They will then host Clarion at Fairchild Field for a twin bill on Saturday, Mar. 31 beginning at 1 p.m.
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