Box Scores
W 13-2 / W 8-1
Cumulative Stats for Florida Trip
ORMOND BEACH, Fla. - Senior Chris Zsenak hit a home run in the first inning of both games and led East Stroudsburg University to a pair of wins, 13-2 and 8-1, against PSAC West foe Gannon on Thursday.
The Warriors (11-5) collected 23 hits, 15 in the first game and eight in the second, and hit .404 for the day with nine extra-base hits. Zsenak was 4-for-5 in the doubleheader and four other players - seniors Mark Angelo, Mike Bortz and Kevin Thompson and freshman Evan Gallagher - had three hits each.
Angelo, Zsenak and Thompson combined to go 7-for-10 with five runs and five RBI in the first game and reached base in 10 of their 13 plate appearances. Thompson was hit by a pitch in both games, running his streak to five straight games, and is two away from ESU's career record of 27.
Junior Jeremy Gigliotti and sophomore Tom Admire turned in strong performances on the mound and ESU carried shutouts into the seventh inning of both games. Gigliotti struck out 10 to tie his career-high and gave up two hits in five innings of work, and Admire struck out eight and issued his first walk of the season in 6.2 innings.
Admire, the reigning PSAC East Pitcher of the Week, is 3-0 with a 1.25 ERA, 27 strikeouts and one walk in 21.2 innings this season.
The Warriors scored four runs before Gannon recorded an out in the first game, as senior 2B Chad Schlegel and Bortz drew walks, Angelo hit a two-run triple and Zsenak followed with his first homer of the game.
ESU put two runs on the board in the fourth, with Schlegel picking up an RBI single. Junior OF Brendan O'Malley hit a sacrifice fly to score Zsenak to give the Warriors a 7-0 advantage in the fifth, and they scored six runs in the top of the seventh to take a 13-0 lead.
The first eight batters in the seventh all reached base, starting with Angelo's single for the first of his two hits in the inning. Freshman Chad Jacobson had a two-run pinch-hit double with the bases loaded, junior Kenny Serfass had an RBI pinch-hit single and junior C Brendan O'Connor, Schlegel and Angelo all collected RBI base hits later in the inning.
Gigliotti pitched out of trouble in the early innings, getting two strikeouts with the bases loaded in the second, and recorded eight out of his next nine outs via strikeout from that point. He had 10 strikeouts in a game for the third time and has 101 strikeouts in 94.2 career innings.
In the second game, Zsenak's three-run homer got the offense going early and Admire was dominant for the third straight start. He got a called third strike to get out of the first inning with a runner on third and retired the next six batters before giving up his first hit of the game to lead off the fourth.
The Warriors had a 5-0 lead at that point after Thompson and Serfass had back-to-back two-out doubles in the third, and added two more runs in the bottom of the fourth. Sophomore C Bryce Muth was hit by a pitch to start the inning, Gallagher bunted him up, and freshman 2B Ryan Guarino drew a walk. Bortz singled to score Muth and the Warriors stole second and third to allow Guarino to score on a sacrifice fly by Angelo.
ESU plated its final run in the sixth when Zsenak's double brought Bortz home. Gannon used two hit batters and a single to finally get to Admire in the seventh before Jacobson entered and got a strikeout with the bases loaded to end the game.
The Warriors improve to 6-2 on their trip to Florida and wrap up their stay against Chestnut Hill on Friday at 8:45 a.m.
