Wright Hurls Nine-Inning Complete Game as Red Raiders Stay Alive in North Atlantic Regional
May 18, 2007
KUTZTOWN, Pa. - Shippensburg sophomore Matt Wright (McClure/Mid-West) recorded 11 strikeouts and limited WVIAC champion and No. 2-seeded West Virginia State to one run through nine innings, helping the Red Raiders to a 6-1 victory in the consolation bracket of the 2007 NCAA Division II North Atlantic Region Championship Friday morning.
Shippensburg (28-23), which dropped its first round contest to top-seeded Kutztown on Thursday, scored four runs in the third inning and road Wright's arm the rest of the way to eliminate the Yellow Jackets (36-17) from competition.
In West Virginia State's two games, it managed just one run while facing the two PSAC pitchers of the year in Wright (PSAC Western Division) and West Chester's Frank Gailey (PSAC Eastern Division).
Shippensburg is now scheduled to play Saturday at 12:30 p.m., in an elimination game against the loser of the West Chester versus Slippery Rock game that is scheduled for 4:00 p.m., Friday.
The nine innings pitched marked a career-high for Wright (6-3). His 11 strikeouts was also the fifth double-digit strikeout performance of his career. He has 99 strikeouts on the season, which ranks third in school history for strikeouts in a season.
Only Evan Englebrook (113) and Randy Dicken (104) have more. Both marks came in 2004, which was also the last time Shippensburg appeared in the regional tournament.
After managing just five hits against Kutztown in the opener, the Red Raiders recorded 10 hits, seven of which came off of starter Travis McGrath (4-3), who allowed four runs, two of which were earned in five innings. Reliever Shane Long also surrendered a pair of runs in 2.2 innings.
Junior Justin Garber (Elizabethtown/Elizabethtown), senior Scott Goss (Johnstown/Westmont Hilltop) and senior Jamie Mengle (Mechanicsburg/Cumberland Valley) each totaled two hits to lead the Red Raider offense.
It was Garber's sacrifice fly that got Shippensburg on the board in the bottom of the third, tying the game at 1-1.
The Red Raiders proceeded to score three more runs in the inning, receiving RBI singles from senior Brandon White (State College/State College) and senior Jared Boger (Lebanon/Cedar Crest), and then took advantage of a throwing error to take a 4-1 lead.
Sophomore Tyler Redick (Fairfield/Walkersville (Md.)) scored on a wild pitch in the sixth, and Garber recorded his second RBI of the day on a single in the eighth.
Wright closed out West Virginia State in the ninth with a pair of strikeouts.
Senior Eric Perlozzo (Cumberland, Md./Bishop Walsh) went 1-for-3 with two walks, boosting his regional totals to 4-for-7 with three walks. In seven postseason games, Perlozzo is hitting .464 (13-for-28) with a .545 on-base percentage.
Coverage of Saturday's game can be heard live on Shippensburg student radio station WSYC 88.7 FM and on the Internet at raiders.ship.edu.
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