Shippensburg Opens PSAC West Play with Doubleheader Split at Clarion
Mar. 30, 2007
SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. - After allowing four unearned runs, committing three errors and missing several scoring opportunities in the opener, the Red Raider baseball team bounced back in the nightcap with an 10-2 rout over home-standing Clarion to earn its first Pennsylvania State Athletic Western Division win of the season.
Clarion (6-10, 1-1 PSAC West) snapped Shippensburg's five-game winning streak in the first game at Memorial Park by a 5-2 score and in the process, handed Ship sophomore starter Matt Wright (McClure/Mid-West) his first loss of the season.
Shippensburg out-hit the Golden Eagles 8-5, but with the score tied 2-2 in the bottom of the sixth, Clarion put two on base by virtue of a walk and a hit batsman, then Jordan Premick put down a bunt that was fielded by Wright. Wright's throw, however, hit Premick in the back as he ran up the baseline, allowing a run to score. Two batters later, Doug Brown tripled in two runs, putting Clarion up for good.
Wright (2-1) tossed six innings and allowed just five hits and five runs, but only one of which was earned. He also struck out six. He did, however, commit a pair of throwing errors. The win went to Clarion's Craig Garza, who scattered eight hits and two runs in a complete-game effort.
Ship was led in game one by senior Brandon White (State College/State College), who went 2-for-4 and drove in a run. Sophomore Tyler Redick (Fairfield/Walkersville (Md.)) also went 2-for-4 and scored a run. Senior Scott Goss (Johnstown/Westmont Hilltop) added an RBI, his team-leading 17th of the season.
Shippensburg's bats responded in the second game, totaling 11 hits in a 10-2 victory to even its PSAC West record at 1-1.
After both teams posted scoreless first innings, Ship pushed across seven runs in the second off Clarion starter Adam Shaffer. Goss started the nning with a single to left center, White worked a walk, and sophomore Sean Killian (Columbia/Hempfield) drilled a double to deep left field, scoring both runners. Sophomore Eric Dezell (Bel Air, Md./John Carroll) also drove in a run with a single, and junior Justin Garber (Elizabethtown/Elizabethtown) plated a pair of runs with a single of his own. Goss, batting for the second time in the inning, notched his 18th RBI of the season with a sacrifice fly to cap the second-inning scoring.
Ship received some insurance in the fifth with an two-run double from Redick, and Killian blasted his third homer of the season in the seventh to close the scoring.
Sophomore starter Andrew Burke (Fayetteville/Chambersburg) worked three perfect innings before allowing two runs in the fourth and fifth, but he dug in and blanked Clarion in the sixth and seventh to earn his second win of the season. In seven innings, he gave up just one earned run and six hits while fanning eight batters. It was the first complete game of Burke's career.
Shaffer also went the distance, but allowed 10 runs on 11 hits and four walks.
Redick finished the second game with three RBIs, and Garber, Killian and sophomore Kasey Kuhns (Three Springs/Southern Huntingdon) all chipped in two RBIs.
The Red Raiders and Clarion meet again Saturday afternoon at Fairchild Field to close the four-game series. Game time is scheduled for 1 p.m.
- Red Raider Baseball -
