SHIPPENSBURG, Pa.-- The Kutztown University baseball team (16-29, 9-17 PSAC East) dropped a pair of games to Shippensburg (26-18, 19-13 PSAC East) in gloomy conditions at Fairchild Field Saturday afternoon.
Similar to Friday's doubleheader, the KU offense struggled at the plate in both games. The Golden Bears dropped game one 6-3, before failing 3-2 in game two. The Raiders take the four-game series after the teams split at North Campus Field on Friday.Â
The Golden Bears are back in action next Thursday, May 2, at Coca-Cola Park in Allentown against East Stroudsburg. First pitch is slated for 10:35 a.m. from the home of the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs.
Game 1: Shippensburg 6, Kutztown 3
Shippensburg gathered a 6-0 lead through the first six frames before a Golden Bears' three-run rally in the seventh came up short in a 6-3 game-one loss.Â
KU's seventh-inning rally started with a Jimmy Kerley (Indian Trail, N.C./Sun Valley) walk, followed by a Jason Wolff (Hillsborough, N.J./Hillsborough) double to move runners into scoring position. Dominic Proietto (Norristown, Pa./Norristown) knocked home the first run with an RBI single, followed by an Antonio Rossillo (Warrington, Pa./Archbishop Wood) RBI single that made it 6-2. Joey Pettinelli (Broomall, Pa./Marple Newtown) doubled to make it 6-3 before Ethan Miller entered for Shippensburg to record the final two outs and get the save.Â
Ethan Martini (Trevose, Pa./Father Judge), along with Wolff, Proietto, Rossillo, and Pettinelli had KU's hits in the contest. Zach Male (Royersford, Pa./Spring-Ford) took the loss for KU, going six innings and allowing eight hits and five earned runs. Ryan Gleason was great for the Raiders, tossing six innings, and allowing one one hit while striking out nine.Â
Game 2: Shippensburg 3, Kutztown 2
The Golden Bears racked up 10 hits in game two and put together another seventh-inning rally, but the game-tying run was stranded at third as KU fell 3-2 in game two.Â
Kerley, Proietto, and Michael Burns (Levittown, Pa./Harry S. Truman) all had multi-hit games for KU, with Kerley and Proietto having the RBI. The Golden Bears were seeing the ball at the plate much better in game two but struggled to get runs across after the Raiders put up three runs in the bottom of the first.Â
KU's seventh-inning rally started with back-to-back-back singles, culminating with a Kerley RBI to make it 3-1. Proietto singled the next at-bat to make it 3-2 and a Rossillo sac bunt moved runners to second and third with one out. Despite that, Ethan Miller was able to work out of trouble and retire the final two Golden Bears to earn the save and the win.
Despite taking the loss, Michael Lennon (Harleysville, Pa./North Penn) put together a solid outing, going five innings, allowing four hits and three earned runs while striking out five. Gable Stotler earned the win for Shippensburg.
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