SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. – On Monday afternoon, the Mansfield Mountaineers baseball team closed out their first Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Eastern Division series at Shippensburg (8-5, 2-2 PSAC East) as the Mounties controlled game one with an 8-3 victory, but the Raiders answered back in game two, 13-4.
Ryan Verbonitz saw his best day of the season, picking up four RBIs on the afternoon. The junior now has 13 RBIs in the first 13 games.
Jeffrey Coakley finished with two RBIs and picked up his first career home run in game two.
Ryan King picked up his second win on the mound and his first appearance with no earned runs.
GAME ONE
To start off the afternoon,
Harold Ivery lit up the score column for the Mounties (6-7, 2-2 PSAC East), with an RBI double in the top of the second to score
Cole Serfass.
In the top of the fourth, Coakley doubled the lead at 2-0, after an RBI single scored
Jacob Houtz.
As the fifth inning rolled around, the Mounties grabbed six more runs across the fifth and the sixth innings. Serfass stayed warm in the series, smacking an RBI single to right field, allowing
Ryan Scott to score. Verbonitz sent him home and
Zachary Shertzer after a double to left to bring the shutout to 5-0.
The sixth saw Shertzer grab an RBI single, bringing in
Logan Wells and another 2 RBI double by Verbonitz score Houtz and Shertzer for the strong 8-0 lead before their final offensive inning.
Shippensburg erased the goose egg on the scoreboard with an RBI single in the bottom of the sixth and added two more in the seventh, but Mansfield mound took control to grab the 8-3 victory.
King collected the victory, with a quality appearance of 4.2 innings, allowing no runs on five hits, striking out four batters.
Alex Bucolo finished off the Raiders, pitching 1.1 innings and allowing just one hit.
Altogether, the team tied their season high in runs, while collecting 12 hits with four batters collecting multiple hits.
GAME TWO
The second game of the day saw the Raiders motivation to not get swept early, knocking in the first five runs of the game, including a three-run blast in the second inning.
With a RBI double, Shertzer delivered the first run, driving in Scott in the top of the fourth. A sacrifice fly by Serfass doubled the Mountie total, cutting the lead to 5-2.
Shippensburg added another run in the bottom of the fourth to hold a 6-2 edge.
Looking for a chance to pull off the sweep, Mansfield came alive in the fifth. A solo shot by Coakley started off the scoring and a single by Shertzer brought in
Shay Gustafson to trim the advantage to 6-4, but the host shut down their chances.
The Raiders added seven runs in the fifth and sixth inning to solidify the Monday sweep as Shippensburg took home game two, 13-4.
UP NEXT:
The Mounties will begin their next series with the top team in the Atlantic Region, No. 6 Millersville, on Friday, March 15 with the doubleheader beginning at 12 p.m.
