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L 2-1 / L 5-2

EAST STROUDSBURG – Jeremy Gigliotti set East Stroudsburg University's career strikeout record and lowered his Division II-leading ERA to 0.38, but Shippensburg scored two unearned runs in the top of the sixth and beat the Warriors 2-1 in the first game of Friday's PSAC East doubleheader at Mitterling Field.

Shippensburg (18-22, 10-8) won the second game, 5-2, to take both ends of the twinbill in the first half of this weekend's series, which is scheduled to conclude with two games on Saturday at Shippensburg. ESU, ranked No. 2 in the Atlantic Region, falls to 22-11 (8-8) going into Saturday.

Gigliotti recorded all six of his strikeouts in the first 4.0 innings and finished with 216 career strikeouts, breaking the record of 215 set by former major leaguer Joel Bennett from 1989-91.

The redshirt senior, a member of the watch list for Division II's Player of the Year, falls to 5-2 despite throwing his fifth straight complete game in PSAC East action. He had taken a shutout into the seventh inning in his previous four starts before the pair of unearned runs in the sixth, and has given up two earned runs in 47.0 innings this season.

Shippensburg scored its runs on two hits, an intentional walk and two errors in support of Nick Umberger, who held ESU to one hit in the first 5.0 innings and finished with a five-hitter to improve to 4-4.

The Warriors scored one run on four hits in the bottom of the sixth to pull within 2-1. Junior SS Evan Gallagher led off with a single before being erased on a double play, but redshirt junior 3B Jake Griesmer, sophomore 1B Brian Ernst and freshman CF Chris Knott followed with two-out singles to cut the deficit in half.

Gigliotti pitched around a leadoff single to hold the margin at 2-1 going into the bottom of the seventh, but Umberger retired the side in order to finish the game.

Gigliotti tied and broke Bennett's strikeout record on the final two outs of the fourth inning, getting Pat Kregeloh swinging for the second time in two at bats and fanning A.J. Czap to set the record. He also struck out Kregeloh after Ben Miller's two-out triple in the first to keep the Raiders off the board, got two strikeouts in the second and another in the third.

He entered the week ranked first in Division II in ERA (0.45) and second in hits per 9 innings (3.83) and gave up five hits on the day. He has 58 strikeouts, nine walks and 22 hits allowed for a .140 batting average against in 47.0 innings this season.

In the second game, the Warriors had nine hits but left nine runners on base against Shawn Patterson, who got double plays with the bases loaded and nobody out in both the fifth and sixth innings to prevent any more damage. Patterson threw the first 6.0 innings and Kody Kibler notched his fifth save in the seventh.

Shippensburg used four hits, all for extra bases, to score three runs in the second before redshirt sophomore Andy Noga got the final two outs with the bases loaded to keep the score at 3-0. The Raiders went ahead 5-0 in the fourth with a double and single to start the inning and an infield single with two outs.

Gallagher and sophomore C Nico Delerme were both 2-for-3 for four of the Warriors' nine hits, and every batter in the lineup reached base at least once as Patterson issued four walks in 6.0 innings.

Kregeloh (2-for-3, home run) and Tyler Uphouse (2-for-2, double) led Shippensburg's nine-hit offense.

Noga went 5.0 innings on the mound for ESU, allowing five runs on nine hits, striking out six and walking one. Freshman Keith Moyer threw 2.0 hitless innings with two strikeouts and two walks in relief.

ESU is set to travel to Shippensburg on Saturday. If the doubleheader is postponed due to rain, it will be pushed back to Tuesday to avoid playing on Easter Sunday. The Warriors are scheduled to head to Mansfield on Monday for the conclusion of the season series which began on April 3.


Warriors Notes
* Gigliotti has 106 of his 216 career strikeouts since March 20, 2009, when he began his 31.2 inning streak without allowing an earned run during his junior season. Since then, he has a 0.58 ERA, allowing six earned runs in 93.0 innings.
* He has a 10-2 record with three shutouts in that stretch. The only two losses are 2-0 vs. Mansfield on April 3 (2 runs with 2 outs in 7th inning) and today's 2-1 setback (0 ER).
* He currently has a streak of 21.0 innings without allowing an earned run and set the PSAC record earlier this season with 27.2 consecutive scoreless innings.
* Gigliotti's 216 strikeouts have come in 195.2 innings. He had 68 strikeouts, third-most in school history, in 60.0 innings in 2009 before throwing just 12.0 innings (16 K's) in 2010 to receive a medical redshirt.

* Joel Bennett, whose career strikeout record fell on Friday, fanned 215 batters in 192.0 innings over three seasons from 1989-91, including a school-record 100 in 78.1 innings as a junior.
* He was drafted by the Boston Red Sox in the 21st round of the 1991 MLB Draft and pitched parts of two seasons in the major leagues with Baltimore and Philadelphia after leading minor league baseball in strikeouts during the decade of the 1990's.

* Evan Gallagher reached two career milestones during his junior season. He had his 150th career hit, going 3-for-6 and finishing the day with 152 hits, and scored his 100th career run.