Box Scores
W 2-0 / W 7-1

Highlights courtesy WETM-TV (Elmira, NY)

MANSFIELD – The archives will show that East Stroudsburg University clinched its second straight bid to the PSAC Baseball Tournament with redshirt sophomore Andy Noga's four-hit, no-earned run effort in a 7-1 victory to complete Monday's sweep at Mansfield.

There will also be a footnote that the victory was the 1,000th win in program history and gave the Warriors (25-16) their third straight 25-win season and just the sixth all-time.

But the day's top story was a no-hitter by redshirt senior Jeremy Gigliotti, the national leader in earned run average, who struck out 10, walked two and faced one batter over the minimum in an 85-pitch masterpiece in a 2-0 victory in the opener.

Gigliotti, a preseason All-Region selection and a preseason All-American prior to his injury-shortened 2010 season, was as good as he's been in his career for the Warriors. ESU's all-time strikeout leader threw his seventh straight complete game and third shutout of the season while lowering his ERA to 0.45 with 73 strikeouts, 11 walks and 26 hits allowed in 60.0 innings.

He was backed by a defense that made a couple of nice plays, including a backhand play down the line by redshirt junior 3B Jake Griesemer to end the fifth innings and a charging play on a slowly-hit ball by junior 2B Ryan Guarino for the second out of the sixth, but most of the afternoon was routine. The left-hander threw first pitch strikes to 19 of 22 batters in a 62-strike, 23-ball performance for his first no-hitter at any level of baseball.

He struck out at least one batter in every inning, getting six looking and four swinging, including the final two outs of the game. He fanned No. 3-hitter Kevin Miller on three pitches, then got Mike Hartz on a 2-2 change-up in the dirt to seal his sixth career 10-strikeout game and ESU's first no-hitter since Craig Whitten beat NJIT, 10-0, on May 2, 2001.

The offense got Gigliotti two runs on sacrifice flies after loading the bases to open the fourth inning. Sophomore 1B Brian Ernst hit a leadoff double and freshman OF Chris Knott and freshman DH Matt Bahnick walked to load the bases for sophomore C Nico Delerme, who lifted the first pitch he saw to center to score Ernst with the game's first run. Guarino followed with a sacrifice fly left to plate Knott with an insurance run off Mansfield starter Eric Rosenberger, who threw a complete game, gave up just four hits but walked six.

The rest of the opener belonged to Gigliotti, who set the PSAC record with 27.2 consecutive scoreless innings earlier this season and has been lights out since the middle of his junior season in 2009. He has allowed just seven earned runs in his last 106.0 innings, lowering his career ERA to 3.23 in 208.2 innings over 43 games (38 starts).

In the PSAC Tournament-clinching win in the nightcap, Noga struck out four and didn't issue a walk after entering the game ranked second in Division II in fewest walks per 9 innings. He stranded three runners on base, got inning-ending double plays after singles in the first and third innings, and gave up his only run in the fifth after a pair of hit batters and a throwing error on a potential double-play ball.

Sophomore OF Eric Boyer (3-for-4, RBI, two runs) and Guarino (3-for-3, RBI, two runs) led a 13-hit attack that gave Noga a 3-0 lead in the third, then got single runs in the fourth and fifth and two more in the seventh.

Guarino singled, stole second and scored on a double by junior SS Evan Gallagher to start the third inning, and the Warriors added a pair of two-out runs on RBI singles by Boyer and Knott between a walk by Ernst in the cleanup spot.

Guarino hit a one-out double and scored on a single by sophomore OF Evan Cain in the fourth, and Boyer hit a leadoff single, moved to second on a walk, third on a fly ball and scored on a wild pitch in the fifth.

Mansfield threatened in the bottom of the fifth without the benefit of a hit, but Noga got a pair of fly ball outs after the throwing error and then threw a 1-2-3 sixth. After the Warriors scored two in the seventh, he pitched around a leadoff single and fanned Brian Milliman to seal the victory.

Noga improved to 6-4 with a 2.42 ERA in his 11th start of the season, including five complete games. He has 51 strikeouts and five walks in 63.1 innings and had conference wins over Kutztown, West Chester and Mansfield – all PSAC Tournament teams a year ago.

Boyer returned to the lineup for the first time since being hit by a pitch at West Chester on April 9 to go 4-for-7 on the day in the No. 3 spot in the order and raise his season batting average to .362 (34-for-94). Ernst is also sitting at .362 (50-for-138) after going 3-for-6 with a walk in the cleanup spot, Knott was 1-for-3 but reached base five times with three walks and a hit by pitch hitting fifth and Guarino was 3-for-4 with a walk and hit by pitch in the No. 8 hole.

ESU will make back-to-back trips to the PSAC Tournament for the first time in school history and the fifth such trip overall when the double-elimination tournament opens on Wednesday at Point Stadium in Johnstown, PA.

The Warriors will face Mercyhurst (35-10, 16-7), the top seed in the PSAC West, at 12:30 p.m. in the day's second game on Wednesday.

ESU No-Hitters since 1990

1991 – Joel Bennett (combined) at Northwood, Fla., 11-1
1991 – Joel Bennett at Kutztown, 6-0
2000 (April 1) – Mike Zimorowicz at Bloomsburg, 9-0
2001 (March 28) – Jason Ryan vs. Bloomsburg, 1-0
2001 (May 2) – Craig Whitten vs. NJIT, 10-0
2011 (May 9) – Jeremy Gigliotti at Mansfield, 2-0

Warriors Notes
* ESU has an all-time record of 1,000 wins, 1,003 losses and 25 ties in its 82nd season of varsity baseball
* The Warriors, picked fourth in the PSAC East preseason poll, finished the regular season tied for third with an 11-13 record. Bloomsburg clinched the No. 3 seed on Sunday after Mansfield split with West Chester, and Kutztown was also 11-13 but was eliminated due to the tiebreaker criteria which gave ESU the No. 4 seed