Box Scores / Photo Gallery
L 6-2 / L 10-5

EAST STROUDSBURG – East Stroudsburg University opened its 2010 home baseball schedule against No. 17 Kutztown on Wednesday afternoon at Mitterling Field, falling 6-2 and 10-5 to the Golden Bears.

Shayne Houck was 5-for-6 for Kutztown (22-6, 8-4) in the doubleheader and went 3-for-3 with two home runs, a triple, six RBI and four runs in the second game. Houck entered the day hitting .500 with nine homers and 42 RBI.

Kutztown took all four games of this season's PSAC East series after winning the first two meetings, 9-3 and 6-4, on March 24. The Golden Bears play No. 5 West Chester in conference action this weekend; ESU (11-15, 2-10) travels to Shippensburg on Friday and hosts the Raiders on Saturday at Mitterling Field.

The Warriors threw eight pitchers, including five who appeared in both games. Freshman Mike Muglia started both ends of the doubleheader and sophomore Chad Jacobson, redshirt freshman Kyle Evans and freshmen Mike Glassic and John Wisser also took the mound twice. Jacobson has pitched in 15 of ESU's 26 games this season.

In the opener, Kutztown took a 2-0 lead in the second inning, including a leadoff homer by Mike Dugan, before the Warriors tied the game in the bottom of the inning. Freshman 1B Brian Ernst and redshirt sophomore 3B Jake Griesemer walked, moved up on a sacrifice bunt by senior C Brendan O'Connor and scored on a two-out single by sophomore SS Evan Gallagher.

The Golden Bears went ahead with an unearned run in the third and used a pair of singles and a sacrifice fly to plate another run in the fourth. They closed their scoring with a pair of runs in the seventh, including an RBI single by Houck.

Ernst (1-for-2, walk) and Gallagher (2-for-3) had the Warriors' three hits off left-hander Nathan Reed, who improved to 4-2 with a complete game that included eight strikeouts and four walks.

Freshman OF Eric Boyer led ESU offensively in the second game, going 2-for-4 with a two-run single in the first and a two-run homer in the fifth. Boyer is 10-for-22 with three doubles, two homers, 11 RBI and six runs since the start of PSAC East play.

Gallagher and Ernst were also 2-for-4 and junior 3B Jason Kelmer doubled and scored on Boyer's homer.

Kutztown led 5-3 through two innings before breaking the game open with four in the fourth. Houck hit a two-run homer in the second, a bases-clearing triple in the fourth and a solo homer to lead off the sixth inning.

ESU scored its run in the second on an infield single by Ernst after Griesemer and freshman OF Evan Cain walked and Gallagher had an infield hit earlier in the inning.

Trevor Rosenberg was the winning pitcher for Kutztown, giving up six hits and five runs (four earned) in 5.0 innings. Mike Bucklin and Adam Maini both threw a scoreless inning in relief.

The Warriors will look to get back in the PSAC East playoff picture this weekend against Shippensburg (10-23, 5-7). Saturday's doubleheader begins at 1 p.m. on Alumni Day and Cystic Fibrosis Awareness Day at Mitterling Field. For more information on “Dollars for Doubles”, ESU's campaign to benefit the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, please visit www.esuwarriors.com.