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Kutztown 4, #11 Shippensburg 3 (HTML Box Score)
 
Kutztown 14, #11 Shippensburg 8 (HTML Box Score)
 
Photo Gallery | KU-SHIP Series Stats
 
KUTZTOWN, Pa. – The Kutztown University baseball team avenged a disappointing Saturday with a more-than-entertaining Sunday doubleheader against 11th-ranked Shippensburg University. KU scored three runs in the final inning to win the opener 4-3 in walk-off fashion, and scored 11 runs in the first inning of a 14-8 game two victory at North Campus Field.
 
Sunday's performances could not have come at a more significant time for the Golden Bears (17-10, 5-7 PSAC East). The pair of wins over the nationally-ranked Raiders (21-8, 9-5) kept KU in the playoff hunt in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Eastern Division, gave it two strong regional wins, and handed Shippensburg its first back-to-back losses of the season.
 
Junior Brandon Martinez (Lansdale, PA/North Penn) capped the three-run comeback in game one with his walk-off single in the bottom of the seventh inning. KU trailed 3-1 entering the seventh inning and was struggling to find any offensive rhythm. The final inning was a jumpstart the Golden Bears desperately needed to build momentum for the nightcap.
 
Brandon Cholish (Peckville, PA/Valley View (Lackawanna)) and Drew DeShong (Greencastle, PA/Greencastle Antrim (Hagerstown CC)) opened the inning with singles for KU. Warren Stimpson (Blue Bell, PA/Wissahickon) stepped up to the plate in a pinch-hit situation, and originally lined into a momentum-killing double play at first base; however, catcher's interference was called to load the bases with no outs. John Dockins (Cinnaminson, NJ/Cinnaminson (Frederick CC)) plated a run with a groundout to cut the deficit to 3-2.
 
Brady McNab (Hatboro, PA/Archbishop Wood (Frederick CC)) hit a potential game-ending double play back to the pitcher, but the Shippensburg pitcher threw the ball into center field to tie the game at 3-3 and keep the inning alive. With runners on first and second and an 0-1 count, Martinez hit a single over the second basemen's head to score Dockins from second and cap the amazing comeback and the 4-3 victory.
 
Colin Holmes (Ewing, NJ/Ewing) pitched a complete game in Kutztown's comeback victory. He allowed six hits with a pair of strikeouts and threw 91 pitches. Shippensburg's Marcus Shippey was tabbed with the loss with all four runs. He had four strikeouts and no walks.
 
Kutztown's 11-run first inning was the difference in the nightcap. The first five runs came with no outs, two of which were on RBI singles from Martinez and Carson Baker (Lehman, PA/Lake-Lehman (Lackawanna)). Overall in the inning, there were four RBI singles (one two-run), three Golden Bears were hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, one run was walked in, one was scored on a wild pitch, and one scored on a groundout.
 
The double-digit inning marks Kutztown's second inning this season with 10+ runs. It also had 10 runs in the fourth inning against Bloomfield this season.
 
Shippensburg's starting pitcher, arguably their top pitcher on staff, was taken out before recording an out in the nightcap. Nine different Golden Bear had RBI in the inning.
 
The visitors answered with three runs in the second inning, but Kutztown took the lead back to double digits with two runs in the third off RBI singles from Baker and Joe Peters (Kutztown, PA/Kutztown (Delaware Technical CC)).
 
Baker led the Golden Bears with a 3-for-3 performance and four RBI. Cholish, Martinez, and Peters also had multi-hit games for KU. Pitcher Paul Piromalli (Hamilton, NJ/Hamilton West (Mercer County CC)) picked up the win with four innings on the mound. He struck out four batters and gave up five hits.
 
The Golden Bears are set to travel to Mansfield University on Monday, April 7 for a 1 p.m. doubleheader.