Box Scores
W 12-0 / W 3-2
EAST STROUDSBURG - Junior Jeremy Gigliotti threw his first career shutout, freshman Andy Noga earned his first conference victory as a starter and senior OF Kevin Thompson set the school record for career runs batted in as East Stroudsburg University swept Millersville, 12-0 and 3-2, in the second half of this weekend's PSAC East baseball series on Saturday at Mitterling Field.
Gigliotti was dominant for his third straight start in the opener and ran his streak to 23 consecutive innings without allowing an earned run. He struck out six, allowed one walk and five hits, and battled Millersville starter Forrest Mengle through three scoreless innings before the Warriors got on the board in the bottom of the fourth.
Freshman 2B Ryan Guarino started the two-run inning with a single, moved to second on an error by the center fielder and scored on a double to right by senior 1B Chris Zsenak. Thompson followed with a single to score Zsenak for his 109th career RBI, tying the school record held by Bryan Yagel (2000-02), and shattered the record in the sixth.
The Warriors (26-19, 8-12) put 10 runs on the board in the frame and knocked Mengle out of the game after senior OF Mike Bortz walked, Guarino laid down a sacrifice bunt and senior 3B Mark Angelo (RBI) and Zsenak both singled. Thompson greeted relief pitcher Keith Bires with a three-run blast to left, his eighth home run of the season, to move into the top spot in ESU's record books with 112 RBI.
Millersville (20-17, 7-9) pulled Bires and went to Ryan Stauffer, the third of four pitchers in the inning, but couldn't get out of trouble as ESU put together four consecutive singles by junior DH John Pisker, junior C Brendan O'Connor, freshman SS Evan Gallagher and freshman OF Carey Zimmerman. Bortz made the second out of the inning with a sacrifice fly that scored O'Connor, and Guarino ripped a two-run double before Stauffer finally left the game.
Angelo capped the scoring with his sixth home run of the year, a two-run shot to right, in the Warriors' first at bat against Andrew Hunt. ESU had nine hits in the inning and made two of its three outs on sacrifice plays.
The Warriors had 15 hits in the game, with the first half of the order doing most of the damage. The second through fifth hitters - Guarino (2-for-2), Angelo (2-for-4), Zsenak (3-for-4) and Thompson (3-for-3) - combined for 10 RBI and seven runs.
Gigliotti didn't allow a runner to reach second base until the fourth inning and got out of trouble in the fifth before retiring the final seven batters he faced to wrap up the first shutout and fourth complete game of his career.
His streak of innings without an earned run stretches back to the final inning of his start against West Chester on March 20. Since then, he threw 6.0 scoreless innings against Bloomsburg, 9.0 innings while allowing an unearned run against Shippensburg, and 7.0 innings vs. Millersville on Saturday. He has 19 strikeouts while allowing just 10 hits in his last three starts.
In the second game, ESU did all of its scoring in the first inning off Millersville starter Derek Kline. Bortz walked to open the inning, Angelo singled and Zsenak doubled to bring home the first run. Pisker collected a two-out, two-run single that put the Warriors ahead 3-0.
Millersville scored two runs (one earned) in the top of the second when Kent Gerdes had an RBI double and scored on a sacrifice fly by Scott Slembecker that made the score 3-2.
The only serious scoring threat after that came in Millersville's half of the third. Kline drew a two-out walk and Miles Gallagher and Andrew Dochterman both singled, but Kline was thrown out at the plate on Dochterman's single to right with Zsenak serving as the relay man between Thompson and O'Connor.
Kline gave up just three hits, all in the first inning, and retired the Warriors in order from the third through the sixth innings. Noga was just as good in his 6.0 innings, the longest outing of his freshman year. He struck out seven, walked two and didn't allow a leadoff batter to reach base while improving to 4-2 on the season.
Junior Christian Saveri pitched the seventh inning for his third save of the year and the sixth of his career. He got the first two hitters out on a strikeout and a groundout before walking Adam Boyd to bring Kline to the plate, who was 8-for-12 in the series at that point, but got him to hit a ground ball to Guarino at second to end the game.
The Warriors battled back after losing the first two games of the series, 5-0 and 9-6, on Friday at Millersville. The split puts ESU at 8-12 in PSAC East action entering the final two weekends of the regular season.
West Chester (14-2) and Kutztown (12-4) have all but secured the top two seeds, leaving Shippensburg (8-6), Millersville (7-9), ESU (8-12) and Mansfield (4-10) to battle for the final two spots. The Warriors do not have a PSAC East series next weekend and close their conference schedule on April 24-25 against Mansfield.
