Box Score 1 | Box Score 2



Kutztown 9, East Stroudsburg 1 (HTML Box Score)
 
Kutztown 5, East Stroudsburg 3 (HTML Box Score)
 
PSAC Championship Central
 
EAST STROUDSBURG, Pa. – The Kutztown University baseball team needed to win both games over East Stroudsburg University on Saturday afternoon to qualify for the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Championship Tournament. Following a dominant 9-1 game one win, the Golden Bears won game two 5-3 in a win-or-go-home atmosphere.
 
The Golden Bears (26-19, 14-14 PSAC East) took three of four games from the Warriors (18-17, 14-14) over the weekend, forcing a three-way tie for the fourth-seed in the Eastern Division (Shippensburg). Kutztown won the tiebreaker because it held the best record against the other two teams at 5-3. Shippensburg was 4-4 and ESU was 3-5.
 
Kutztown won seven of its final eight, and eight of its final 10 conference games to qualify for the PSAC Tournament for the third consecutive year. As the No. 4 seed out of the East, KU will play the No. 1 seed in the West, in the first round of the PSAC Tournament at Pullman Park in Butler, Pa. on Wednesday, April 30 at 6:30 p.m. The top seed in the West will be determined on Sunday following Seton Hill's final two games.
 
In game one, Kutztown scored eight of its nine runs in the first three innings, including a five-run third inning. With all of the run support, senior pitcher Colin Holmes (Ewing, NJ/Ewing) had all the breathing room he needed in his team-leading fourth complete game of the season. His only allowed run was a sacrifice fly in the seventh inning, as he notched three strikeouts in the opener. He improved to 5-4 on the season.
 
Senior Kyle Stoudt (Mertztown, PA/Brandywine Heights) put the Golden Bears on the board with a two-out double to score Brandon Martinez (Lansdale, PA/North Penn) from first base in the first inning. With runners on second and third in the second inning, an error on the ESU first baseman plated both runners for a 3-0 KU advantage.
 
Brandon Cholish (Peckville, PA/Valley View (Lackawanna)) drove in Martinez's second run scored on the day with a RBI single with one out in the third inning for a 4-0 lead. Following a pair of walks to load the bases, Thomas Romano (Phoenixville, PA/Phoenixville) moved the runners up a base with a RBI single, and Darian Sarlat cleared the bases with a three-run double to push Kutztown's lead to 8-0 through three.
 
Romano drove in his second run of the game with a double in the fifth inning, scoring Brandon Hickey (Mountville, PA/Hempfield), who led off the inning with a single.
 
As a team, the Golden Bears notched 13 hits, tied for the most in a conference game this season for KU. Stoudt had a 3-for-4 outing at the plate while playing second base, as Martinez, Romano and Hickey all had multi-hit games.
 
In the second game of the doubleheader that would decide which team would advance to the playoffs, Kutztown's Matt Swarmer (Mohnton, PA/Governor Mifflin) stepped up and turned in a solid outing on the hill in just his second start of the year. KU's typical closer this season with a team-leading eight saves, Swarmer pitched six innings and struck out a career-high nine batters. He moved to 2-1 with the win.
 
Swarmer was given a three-run lead before throwing his first pitch of the game. John Dockins (Cinnaminson, NJ/Cinnaminson (Frederick CC)) opened the game with a walk, and Ricky Gorrell (Royersford, PA/Spring-Ford) singled to put two runners on with no outs for Martinez. The junior belted a triple to score both runners and give KU a 2-0 lead. He was driven in by Stoudt for a 3-0 lead after one.
 
East Stroudsburg struck for its first run off a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the fourth to cut its deficit to 3-1. Gorrell and Martinez notched hits in the fifth inning to put runners on the corners with two outs for Stoudt, who drove home Gorrell with a RBI single and a 4-1 Kutztown lead.
 
Following some defensive changes for Kutztown, the Warriors rallied with three straight hits with two outs, two of which for extra bases, to draw within one run at 4-3 through five innings.
 
After entering the game in the field in the fifth, Kutztown junior Warren Stimpson (Blue Bell, PA/Wissahickon) had one of his top moments as a Golden Bear. With one out and the bases empty, Stimpson pulled a home run over the left field wall to extend Kutztown's lead to 5-3. It was his first home run of the season.
 
Swarmer was relieved heading into the final half inning, as Brandon Shimo (Jermyn, PA/Lakeland (Lackawanna)) took the mound looking to secure the two-run lead and send Kutztown to the playoffs. Notably, Shimo pitched 5.2 innings against ESU on Saturday in a game one win. He struck out the first batter, forced a line out for the second out, hit his next two batters with two outs to put the game-tying runs on base, but found his control and forced a pop-up to end the game and send Kutztown to the playoffs.
 
Before heading out to Western Pennsylvania for the postseason, the Golden Bears wrap up their regular season on Monday, April 28 in their annual game against Albright College at FirstEnergy Stadium, home of the Reading Fightin Phils. First pitch is set for 6:30 p.m.