Mountain Cats Fall, 11-1, to Shippensburg in Sscond Round of Regional Tournament

05/16/2008

Shippensburg (36-23) struck for eight runs in the first four innings and starting pitcher Matt Wright fanned ten hitters in seven innings as the Raiders picked up a 11-1 win over Pitt-Johnstown (36-18-1) at the NCAA Division II North Atlantic Regional at Johnstown's Point Stadium. Dan DelSignore (Johnstown, Pa.) collected two of Pitt-Johnstown's five hits.
Wright (7-4), the regional pitcher of the year, battled some control issues with six walks. However, he limited Pitt-Johnstown to four hits and no earned runs during his stint as the Mountain Cats standed a dozen runners on base.
Rick Shumway helped Ship to a 2-0 lead after an inning. His triple plated Kyle Rhoades and Tyler Redick for the early Raider lead.
Kasey Kuhns laced another triple for the Raiders to lead off the second. A Sean Killian RBI single produced a 3-0 Ship advantage.
Shippensburg broke the game open in the fourth with a five-run uprising. A two-run Rhodes single and Kevin Scholly two-RBI double were the key Raider blows as the lead increased to 8-0.
The Mountain Cats snapped Wright's shutout bid in the sixth. Chris Turka (Natrona Heights, Pa.) drew a leadoff walk, advanced to second via an error, and eventually scored on Delsignore's base hit.
The Raiders piled on three insurance runs during their final at-bats. Ship took advantage of free passes to Killian and Eric Dezell before a Redick two-bagger that scored both runners. Scholly picked up his third run batted in of the evening as he drove Redick home on an RBI ground out.
Brandon Geib and Kyle Warner provided scoreless relief for Ship in the eighth and ninth innings to close out the victory.
Kaleb Fleck (Claysburg, Pa.) (6-3), the first of five Pitt-Johnstown hurlers, suffered the loss. He was tagged for seven hits in four innings. Fleck was responsible for eight runs, but only three were earned.
Pitt-Johnstown stays alive in the tournament, but drops into the loser's bracket to face Kutztown in a 3:00 p.m. elimination contest on Saturday.

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