Box Scores
Game 1 - L 6-4 (10 inn.)
Game 2 - L 8-7

Photo Gallery

EAST STROUDSBURG – Seniors Evan Gallagher and Ryan Guarino finished record-setting careers at East Stroudsburg University, including a school-record 109 wins over the last four years, on Saturday at Mitterling Field.

Shippensburg (30-19) won both ends of the doubleheader, 6-4 (10 inn.) and 8-7, to take the four-game series going into next week's PSAC Tournament. West Chester, Kutztown and Millersville will also represent the PSAC East. ESU had been the division's only team to make the tournament in each of the last two years.

The Warriors (24-21-1) finished their fourth straight winning season, their longest stretch since five straight years from 1967-71. Last year's team went 27-20 and played in the NCAA Tournament for the second time in school history, finishing third in the Atlantic Region.

Gallagher, a four-year starter at shortstop, set the school record for most games played in the opener, taking the field for one pitch before leaving due to an injury he suffered on Friday at Shippensburg.

Gallagher played in his 189th career game, breaking the record set by former teammate Kevin Thompson (2005-09). He ranks second in career hits (212), fourth in runs (138) and stolen bases (44) and eighth in RBI (98). Defensively, he ends his career second in school history and in the top 10 in PSAC history with 425 career assists.

Guarino, a four-year starter at second base, finished his career with an 18-game hitting streak after collecting an RBI single in the first inning of the second game and leaving due to injury. He was 2-for-5 in the opener, including a two-out, two-run RBI single in a three-run second that helped the Warriors tie the game at 4-4, where it remained until the 10th. The hitting streak is the longest at ESU in at least 10 years and one game longer than junior Brian Ernst's 17-game streak earlier this season.

Guarino ends his ESU career with 149 career hits (15th), 106 runs (12th), 35 stolen bases (8th), 67 walks (t-7th) and 21 times hit by pitch (t-4th). He played in 160 career games, 11th in school history, and ranks seventh with 303 career assists. His career .439 on-base percentage is the fifth-best among four-year players in school history. Guarino hit .358 this year, his fourth straight season over .300, and hit .429 (24-for-56) within the division.

Freshman 3B Robert Patete also tied a school record in the second game, going 2-for-4 and tying ESU's freshman record with his 50th hit of the year, a double in the fifth inning. Patete led the Warriors with a .365 batting average, going 50-for-137 with 12 doubles and two home runs, and was tied for second on the team with 33 RBI. He hit .368 (28-for-76) with 17 RBI against the PSAC East.

Junior OF Zac Menendez was 2-for-6 with three walks, four stolen bases and four runs to cap a record-setting first year at ESU. Menendez set new standards with 42 walks and 33 stolen bases and hit .306 with a .461 on-base percentage and 42 runs scored at the top of the order.

Senior Ryan Beck, who tied the school record with 10 career saves and had five this season, made his first start of the year in the second game on Saturday (4.0 IP, 6 hits, 6 runs-4 earned, 4 strikeouts, 6 walks). He went 9.2 innings in relief, holding Millersville to one earned run, in his last outing last Saturday. Beck led ESU with a 3.21 ERA in 17 appearances and struck out 29 in 33.2 innings.

Redshirt senior Jason Kelmer was 2-for-4 in the second game to end his two-year career, playing in 2010 and 2012 and missing last season due to injury. He led ESU with eight home runs and hit .307 with 28 RBI and 29 runs on the Warriors' 2010 PSAC Tournament team.

Redshirt senior pitcher Eric Kline was also recognized after closing his only season at ESU. Kline pitched in 10 games and made seven starts, including five against the PSAC East, with a 4.50 ERA and 25 strikeouts in 36.0 innings.

GAME 1

ESU and Shippensburg were tied at 4-4 after the second inning, and neither team dented the scoreboard again until the top of the 10th when Cody Ezolt had a two-out, two-run pinch-hit single for the go-ahead runs for the Raiders.

Shippensburg used 18 players and ESU used 19 in the opener, which began with redshirt freshman Jayson Rathjens replacing Gallagher at shortstop after the first pitch by sophomore Colin Taylor. Gallagher was helped off the field by his teammates after setting the school record for games played in a career.

Sophomore Keith Moyer (7.2 IP, 2 runs, 7 strikeouts, 4 walks, 4 hits) was stellar in relief for ESU, getting an inning-ending strikeout after entering in the second and blanking Shippensburg through the ninth inning.

A leadoff double by Cody Kulp, sacrifice bunt and intentional walk gave Shippensburg its base runners in the 10th. Redshirt junior left-hander Brandon Snyder came on in relief, walking the first batter after an 0-2 count and a potential strikeout. Snyder struck out Tyler Shover looking for the second out, but Ezolt's pinch-hit single to center brought in the tie-breaking runs.

A one-out walk by sophomore C Eric Forth and two-out, pinch-hit walk by redshirt freshman Max Mueller gave the Warriors two base runners in the bottom of the 10th off Shippensburg closer Kody Kibler, who eventually got a game-ending strikeout for his ninth save of the season.

ESU answered two Shippensburg runs in the first when Menendez hit a leadoff single, stole second, moved to third on a groundout by Guarino and scored on a groundout by Ernst to make it 2-1. Shippensburg got two more in the second before Moyer came on in relief.

The Warriors scored all three of their runs in the second with two outs. A one-out walk by junior C Nico Delerme, two-out single by Rathjens and walk by Menendez loaded the bases for Guarino, who laced a single to score Delerme and Rathjens to make it 4-3. Menendez scored the tying run on a double steal, stealing third and scoring when the throw down to second was in the dirt.

ESU's best chance at the winning run came in the eighth, when the Warriors emptied their bench with two pinch-runners and a pinch-hitter to advance the winning run (sophomore Kurtis Roberts, running for Delerme) to third with two outs. Guarino's grounder to the left of Ship 3B Tyler Basso was handled and the throw across the diamond just beat Guarino for the third out.

GAME 2

The Warriors jumped on Shippensburg starter Pat Kregeloh with four runs in the first inning, then had to mount a comeback with three runs in the sixth to pull within 8-7. Shippensburg scored two runs each in the second, third, fourth and sixth frames.

Menendez got the offense going when he walked, stole second, moved to third on a balk and scored on Guarino's RBI single to left. Guarino aggravated an injury on the play and was removed for a pinch-runner after Ernst doubled to put runners at second and third. Patete drilled a two RBI single to score both runners and sophomore OF Chris Knott, who reached on a fielders choice, scored the inning's fourth run on a sacrifice fly by Forth.

In the sixth, Delerme, Rathjens and Menendez all singled with one out to load the bases. Brandstetter drew a walk to plate the inning's first run, and two runners scored when Ernst reached on an RBI fielders choice and Menendez dashed home on a throwing error by the shortstop.

ESU put the tying run on second in the seventh, but Shippensburg got out of it to complete the four-game series win. Knott drew a leadoff walk and moved to second when junior Eric Boyer's fly ball was caught on the hill in right, but Basso got out of it with a fly out to left for his second save of the year.

Five pitchers took the mound for ESU, with Beck going 4.0 innings in his only start of the season. Junior Colin Kelly pitched a scoreless fifth and redshirt freshman left-hander Max Mueller (1.1 IP, 2 hits) got the Warriors out of the sixth inning after two runs had scored.

The Warriors played nearly the entire second game with Rathjens at shortstop and Ernst at second with Gallagher and Guarino both out due to injury. Rathjens backed up Guarino at second base for most of the season and Ernst, the Warriors' regular first baseman and a high school shortstop, played the 10th inning at short in the opener.


GAME NOTES

* Ernst, who struck out nine in 5.0 innings in his final start of the year on Friday, led the Warriors with 47.1 innings pitched this season after returning from injury the year before. He posted a 5-2 record with a shutout, struck out 58 and held opponents to a .257 average.
* Offensively, he hit .346 with 37 RBI to lead the Warriors for the third straight season. He walked 18 times with just 10 strikeouts in 159 at bats. Ernst will enter his senior year with 155 career hits, 36 doubles, 48 extra-base hits and 104 RBI, 20 away from ESU's career record.
* Last week against Millersville, Ernst became the second player in school history with 100 career hits on offense and 100 career strikeouts on the mound. He has an 11-5 record with 113 strikeouts in 106.0 innings in his first three years at ESU. Ernst threw 51.0 innings with 49 strikeouts as a freshman in 2010 before being limited to 7.2 innings last season.

* Knott hit .316 with a team-high 20 extra-base hits. He logged 10 doubles, five triples and five home runs and had 29 RBI and 33 runs scored. He also ranked third on the team with 17 stolen bases.

* Patete's .365 batting average is fourth-best by a freshman in school history. Delerme hit .395 and Boyer hit .393 during the 2010 season, and Joe Sobeski hit .379 in 2000. Sobeski set the freshman record of 50 hits which Patete tied on Saturday. Patete also finished one away from tying Sobeski's freshman record of 34 RBI.

* ESU set a school record with 119 stolen bases this season, breaking the previous record of 102 set in 2000. Menendez set the single-season record with 33 and Boyer (19), Knott 917), Gallagher (14), Guarino (13) and Kelmer (13) all hit double-figures.

* ESU's 332 strikeouts as a pitching staff are the second-most in school history, trailing the 2009 team which had 374 strikeouts. The Warriors' community service initiative was “Striking Out Cystic Fibrosis”, with players soliciting a donation for every strikeout recorded by an ESU pitcher this season.

* Sophomore Keenan Stare tied the school record with seven wins this year, going 7-4 with a save in 16 appearances, including seven starts. He had 42 strikeouts in 39.0 innings.

* Moyer was second to Ernst in innings pitched with 46.2 and recorded 48 strikeouts. He had a 4-3 record in 15 appearances and also made seven starts.