Kutztown Edges Shippensburg 4-3 in Opening Round of North Atlantic Regional
May 17, 2007
KUTZTOWN, Pa. - Kutztown scored four runs in the third inning including a two-run home run from Jeff Craig and stifled Shippensburg's late scoring opportunities to earn a 4-3 win over the Red Raiders in the opening round of the NCAA Division II North Atlantic Region Championship on Thursday at Kutztown.
With the loss, Shippensburg (27-23), who is making its first regional appearance since 2004, drops into the consolation bracket to face No. 2-seeded and WVIAC champion West Virginia State on Friday at 9:00 a.m. The Yellow Jackets dropped their first round game to West Chester, 2-0.
Aside from the four-run third inning, Shippensburg senior Ross Buckwalter (Ephrata/Ephrata) tossed seven shutout innings and scattered just five hits throughout the game. Only two of the runs allowed were earned. Still, the Daktronics, Inc., All-North Atlantic Region Second Team selection dropped his overall record to 5-3 with the loss.
Kutztown (46-5), the region's top-ranked team, has now defeated Shippensburg in 11-straight meetings, including three times this season. Entering Thursday's contest, Shippensburg had been shutout twice by the Golden Bears in 2007.
On Thursday, however, the Red Raiders got on the board in the first inning when senior Brandon White (State College/State College) singled home junior Justin Garber (Elizabethtown/Elizabethtown).
Shippensburg boosted the lead to 2-0 in the third on a Kutztown throwing error. But in the bottom of the inning, Craig hit the first pitch he saw over the right centerfield wall to tie the game.
Matt Dierolf later added a two-run single to increase the lead to 4-2.
Taking advantage of Kutztown's third error the game, Shippensburg cut into the lead when sophomore Scott Stern (Martinsburg/Central) brought in classmate Kasey Kuhns (Three Springs/Southern Huntingdon) with an RBI groundout.
From there, Kutztown starter Matt Keller (7-1) settled and retired nine of the ten Ship batters he faced in the next three innings. Ship did not threaten until senior Eric Perlozzo (Cumberland, Md./Bishop Walsh) doubled for his third hit of the day to lead off the eighth.
Perlozzo moved up to the third with a Garber ground out, but Kutztown's left-handed reliever Darin Gorski entered to face the left-handed hitting senior Scott Goss (Johnstown/Wesmont Hilltop). On Gorski's first offering, Goss lined out to third baseman Sean Bond, who promptly tagged out Perlozzo, ending the Shippensburg threat.
Kutztown's Mike McCardell entered in the ninth and struck out two to earn his team-leading fifth save of the season.
Shippensburg manage five hits in the game with three coming off the bat of Perlozzo. He finished the game with two singles, one double, a walk and a stolen base.
Action of Friday's game against Wets Virginia State can be heard on Shippensburg student radio station WSYC 88.7 FM and on the Internet at raiders.ship.edu.
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