Box Scores
W 5-4 / W 10-4

SHIPPENSBURG – Freshmen Brian Ernst and Colin Kelly both had strong outings on the mound and East Stroudsburg University never trailed in sweeping a PSAC East doubleheader at Shippensburg, 5-4 and 10-4, on Friday afternoon.

Ernst (3-2) shut out Shippensburg for the first five innings and senior Christian Saveri got the final five outs to shut down the Raiders late in the opener. Ernst finished with seven strikeouts in 5.1 innings and has 33 strikeouts in 32.0 innings in seven appearances (six starts) this year.

Kelly (2-1) didn't allow an earned run in five innings of work in game two, and the Warriors broke open a 4-2 game with a four-run sixth to complete the sweep as Kelly won his second straight conference start to open his career.

ESU (13-15, 4-10 PSAC East) had 25 hits in the twinbill, including a 13-for-27 performance from four freshmen – Ernst, outfielders Eric Boyer and Evan Cain and catcher Nico Delerme, who is hitting .391 (18-for-46) this season.

Ernst helped his own cause with a 2-for-4 game in his start and had a pair of doubles. Boyer's 4-for-6 day included a 3-for-3 showing in game two, with a three-run homer in the third, a double, a single and a walk, and three runs. Cain was 4-for-9 at the top of the order and had two multi-hit games and Delerme went 3-for-4 with a double and two RBI in his start behind the plate in the nightcap.

Redshirt sophomore 3B Jake Griesemer was 3-for-3 in the first game and hit a solo homer, the first of his career, to give ESU a 5-0 lead in the top of the sixth inning. Shippensburg (11-26, 5-9) finally got to Ernst in the bottom half, using a walk and home runs by Kris Kullman and A.J. Czap to make it 5-3 before Saveri took the mound with a runner on first and one out and got out of the inning with a strikeout and a groundout.

Shippensburg scored an unearned run in the bottom of the seventh and advanced the tying run to second with Czap at the plate, but Saveri got a pop up to junior 1B Jason Kelmer (2-for-4) to end the game.

Saveri, ESU's ace, secured his ninth career save and made his ninth appearance of the season and third in relief. The left-hander has a 2.53 ERA, 46 strikeouts and eight walks in 42.2 innings and is expected to make a start in Saturday's doubleheader.

In the second game, Boyer's three-run homer was his third of the year and second in three games after going deep in the nightcap of ESU's doubleheader vs. Kutztown on Wednesday. Boyer is 14-for-28 (.500) with 14 RBI, 10 runs and seven extra-base hits in 14 conference games to date. He also threw out Billy Miller at home in the third inning of the opener to maintain ESU's 3-0 lead at that point, his second outfield assist of the year.

The Warriors went ahead 4-0 in the fourth on a two-out RBI single by Cain that scored sophomore CF Carey Zimmerman (2-for-4, 2 runs) from second.

Shippensburg got two runs back, both unearned, in the fifth before ESU responded with four in the top of the sixth to put the game away in an inning that included doubles by Boyer and Delerme and a two-run single by Cain.

The Warriors host Shippensburg on Saturday at 1 p.m. on Cystic Fibrosis Awareness Day and Alumni Day at Mitterling Field.