Box Scores
W 7-2 / W 6-2

WEST CHESTER – Redshirt senior Jeremy Gigliotti and redshirt sophomore Andy Noga both took shutouts into the sixth inning and the offense pounded out 27 hits as East Stroudsburg University swept West Chester, 7-2 and 6-2, on Saturday afternoon in the first half of this weekend's PSAC East baseball series.

Gigliotti and Noga both threw their third straight complete games against conference foes and have allowed just four runs apiece over those starts after pitching ESU to its first doubleheader sweep at West Chester since 2001.

The Warriors, ranked No. 3 in the NCBWA Atlantic Region poll, improve to 19-6 overall and 5-3 in the PSAC East entering Sunday's twinbill at 1 p.m. at Mitterling Field.

Gigliotti retired the first 11 batters he faced and was one out away from a one-hit shutout in the seventh inning before West Chester (14-16, 5-9) plated a pair of unearned runs on a nearly perfect afternoon for the southpaw. He ended with a two-hitter, striking out six and walking two, improved to 4-1 with a 0.55 ERA and 43 strikeouts in 33.0 innings, and moved into second in school history with 201 career strikeouts.

Noga is 5-1 with a 1.70 ERA in seven starts after tossing a six-hitter and blanking the Golden Rams through the first five innings of the nightcap. He struck out seven, didn't issue a walk, and has walked just three hitters in 42.1 innings this year after entering the week ranked second in Division II in walks per nine innings.

Nearly overshadowed in the sweep was the Warriors' offense, which jumped on West Chester early with two runs in the first inning of the first game and two runs in the second inning of game two. ESU hit .380 (27-for-71) led by cleanup hitter Brian Ernst, who was 5-for-7 with two talks, a double, a home run, five RBI and three runs scored.

Ernst was 3-for-4 with all five RBI and two runs in the opener, belting a two-run single in the first inning and a three-run homer in the fifth as the Warriors put together a two-out rally after one of West Chester's four errors in the game.

ESU stretched its lead to 6-0 in the sixth when freshman CF Chris Knott hit a leadoff triple and scored on a groundout by sophomore C Nico Delerme, and added another run in the seventh as Ernst doubled with two outs and scored on a base hit by sophomore DH Tom Spilatore.

Gigliotti yielded just a two-out single by Joe Wendle in the fourth and a two-out walk in the fifth for West Chester's only baserunners until the seventh. Wendle walked with one out and Gigliotti retired the next batter before a throwing error allowed Wendle to score. Chris Pula hit an RBI double but Gigliotti struck out Josh Heyney – the 201st K of his career – to end the game.

In the second game, six players had multiple hits, led by freshman C Eric Forth's 3-for-5 day, and the Warriors' 17 hits were their most in a PSAC East game since rapping out 18 and 19 hits in a doubleheader at Mansfield at the end of the 2009 season. ESU left 16 runners on base, including the bases loaded in the first three innings, or the damage could have been even worse.

The Warriors came up with a couple of clutch hits in second inning, getting RBI singles from junior SS Evan Gallagher and redshirt junior 3B Jake Griesemer, and scored another run in the fourth when Knott followed singles by sophomore OF Eric Boyer and Ernst with an RBI double.

Noga shut down West Chester on the mound, allowing just three hits and only one runner to reach second base in the first five innings before the Golden Rams put together a two-run inning in the bottom of the sixth. The score was already 6-0 at that point, as ESU scored three runs on four hits and an error in the top of the frame including an RBI double by Forth.

Noga went back to the mound for a perfect seventh inning to wrap up his third straight complete game. In his three conference starts, the right-hander is 2-1 with a 1.29 ERA, 16 hits allowed, 20 strikeouts and no walks in 21.0 innings.

Nine players had at least two hits on the day, paced by Ernst (5-for-7) and Forth (3-for-5). Griesemer was 4-for-9, Knott and Spilatore both went 3-for-8, sophomore OF Evan Cain was 2-for-4, Boyer was 2-for-6, junior 2B Ryan Guarino went 2-for-7 and Gallagher was 2-for-9.

Freshman Joe Gunkel threw a complete game for West Chester in the first game, facing 34 batters and allowing 10 hits and seven runs (four earned). Left-handed graduate student Matt Zielinski (4.0 IP, 11 hits, 3 runs) took the loss in the second game and junior Dylan Porter (3.0 IP, 6 hits, 3 runs) appeared in relief.

The Warriors will look for their first series win against West Chester since 2002 on Sunday afternoon. Earlier this season, they took three of four from Kutztown for their first series victory since 2000.


Warriors Notes
* Gigliotti became the seventh pitcher in school history to post 16 career victories. He is currently 16-9 and has the second-best career winning percentage among pitchers with 25 decisions.
* He is the third player in school history with 200 career strikeouts and passed Mike Zimorwicz (1999-02), who struck out exactly 200 hitters in his career, with his 201st career strikeout to end the game.
* He lowered his career ERA to 3.67, the second-lowest among ESU pitchers with at least 100 innings pitched since 1985.
* Joel Bennett had a 3.14 ERA and struck out 215 hitters from 1989-91 before being selected in the MLB draft following his junior season.