Box Scores
Game 1 - W 5-4
Game 2 - W 11-7

KUTZTOWN – Junior 1B Brian Ernst went 5-for-6, picked up his 100th career RBI and extended his hitting streak to 13 games as East Stroudsburg University earned its first doubleheader sweep at Kutztown in 12 years with a pair of wins, 5-4 and 11-7, in PSAC East baseball on Friday.

The Warriors jumped on the Golden Bears with three runs in the first inning of both games. Freshman 3B Robert Patete hit a two-run homer, the first of his career, in the opener and five ESU pitchers combined to do the job against a potent Kutztown offense that has them ranked just outside the top 25 in this week's NCBWA Division II poll.

ESU (22-14, 6-8) will look to back up last year's 3-1 series win in Saturday's doubleheader at 1 p.m. at Mitterling Field. Kutztown (23-12, 8-6) entered the weekend second in the PSAC East behind West Chester and had won 10 straight series against ESU, from 2001 to 2010, until last spring. ESU has three four-game sweeps in series history, most recently in 2000.

ESU set a school record for stolen bases in a season with 105 with five swipes on the day. Junior OF Zac Menendez had one each game, extending his school record to 28, after setting the record on Monday at Nyack. Six Warriors have at least 10 stolen bases this season.

Senior SS Evan Gallagher moved into second in school history with 205 career hits with an RBI single to give the Warriors a 1-0 lead in the nightcap. He drove in Menendez, who hit an infield single, moved to second on a wild pitch and stole third for ESU's 102nd steal of the season, tying the record set in 2000. The Warriors set the record on a double steal by redshirt senior DH Jason Kelmer and sophomore OF Chris Knott in the fourth.

Ernst, Patete (3-for-6, 4 RBI, 3 runs), senior 2B Ryan Guarino (3-for-7, 2 runs), Gallagher (2-for-8, 2 RBI, 3 runs) and Menendez (2-for-8, RBI, 3 runs) did most of the damage for ESU offensively in the sweep.

Ernst was 3-for-3 in the opener and Ernst, Patete and Guarino all had two hits in the nightcap. Ernst is hitting .522 (24-for-46) with 5 doubles, a triple and 16 RBI during his 13-game hitting streak and has raised his season average to .372 with a team-leading 34 RBI.

In game two, sophomore Mark Romano delivered a key two-out, two-RBI pinch-hit single in the sixth inning with the Warriors clinging to a 9-7 lead after Kutztown nearly came all the way back from an 8-2 deficit.

GAME 1

ESU jumped on Kutztown starter Dominic Ruscitti with three runs in the first after Menendez reached on an error on a bunt attempt. He stole second and scored on a single by Ernst for his 100th career RBI, becoming the sixth player in school history to reach the milestone and the first to do it as a junior. Patete followed with his first career home run, a blast to left, to make it 3-0.

Sophomore Colin Taylor made his second straight PSAC East start and threw a pair of scoreless innings before Kyle Stoudt hit a leadoff single, advanced on a passed ball and wild pitch and scored on a ground ball to make it 3-1 in the third. The Golden Bears got another back in the fourth when Matt Albaugh led off with a triple and scored on a base hit by Brad Stoudt, but sophomore Keith Moyer came on to get out of a second- and- third, one-out situation with a strikeout of Kyle Stoudt and a fly ball.

The Warriors padded their lead to 5-2 with a pair of clutch two-out hits in the fifth. Guarino singled with one out, moved up on a groundout by Menendez and scored on a single by Gallagher to make it 4-2. Ernst followed with a triple, the third of his career, to score Gallagher before Ruscitti got out of the inning with a strikeout.

Moyer earned the win with 1.2 innings of relief work, pitching around a leadoff double in the fifth by getting two-time PSAC East Player of the Year Shayne Houck to line into an inning-ending double play. Sophomore Keenan Stare came on to pitch a scoreless sixth after a leadoff walk.

Senior Ryan Beck got the save, the ninth of his career to move within one of the school record, while giving up two runs in the seventh. KU had a pair of leadoff runners on a single and hit by pitch and made it 5-4 on an RBI groundout by Cody Montz and a base hit by No. 2 hitter Brett Hauck. That brought up Shayne Houck, who represented the winning run, but Beck got a comebacker that he turned into a game-ending 1-6-3 double play.

GAME 2

Houck hurt the Warriors with a grand slam in the fourth after ESU took an 8-2 lead by scoring five runs in the top half of the inning. Kutztown made it 8-7 in the fifth, but ESU had a three-run sixth – keyed by Romano's pinch-hit single – to complete the sweep.

A big first inning once again made a difference, as Gallagher singled to score Menendez, moved up on a wild pitch and scored on a base hit by Patete. Knott reached on an error on the left fielder before he was cut down at third, with Patete scoring on the play to make it 3-0.

Redshirt senior left-hander Eric Kline got out of a second- and- third, one-out jam in the first inning before Kutztown made it 3-2 with single runs in the second and third while leaving two runners on base in each inning.

ESU seemingly broke it open with its big fourth inning, which started when Knott walked, Kelmer was hit by a pitch, they executed a double steal and scored on a two-RBI single by sophomore C Eric Forth. Guarino singled to put runners at the corners, Forth scored on a base hit by Menendez, and Ernst had a one-out infield single that scored Guarino from second after a throwing error.

Patete plated Menendez with another single to make it 8-2, and the Warriors loaded the bases on a walk by junior OF Eric Boyer before reliever Connor Wing came on to get starter Damon Valloreo out of the jam.

Minutes later, it was 8-6 after two walks and a hit batter loaded the bases for Houck, who went deep on a 3-2 pitch after Moyer relieved Kline. Moyer got out of the inning without any more damage, but Kutztown added another run in the fifth off Stare to get within 8-7.

ESU answered in the top of the sixth, taking advantage of two walks and an error to score three unearned runs. Gallagher scored on an RBI groundout by Boyer, and Romano pinch-hit for Kelmer and drove a base hit to right to score Patete and Ernst.

Stare (3.0 IP, 1 hit, 1 run) earned his sixth win of the season with solid relief work. He got Houck to fly out to center to end the fifth with the tying run on third, then induced a 5-4-3 double play to end the sixth before throwing a perfect seventh inning.