Box Score
W 11-8
W 3-1

Photo Gallery

Cystic Fibrosis Awareness Day
* Release
* How to help
* 1st pitch by Kelly Buyaskas, Brayden Walsh

EAST STROUDSBURG - Redshirt junior outfielder Robert Bennie hit a grand slam in an 11-8 win in the opener, and senior Brandon Holup pitched East Stroudsburg University to a 3-1 win in the nightcap for a doubleheader sweep and 3-1 series win vs. Shippensburg on Sunday at Mitterling Field.

ESU (26-9, 10-6), ranked No. 17 in this week's NCBWA Division II poll, posted its first series win vs. Shippensburg (15-21, 6-10) since taking three of four in 2010. The Warriors and Raiders split the last two years.

Bennie was 2-for-3 with six RBI in the opener, 2-for-3 with a double, RBI and run in the nightcap, and 9-for-14 with three doubles, a home run, 10 RBI and four runs in the four-game series.

ESU split Friday's doubleheader at Shippensburg, winning 6-2 in the opener as redshirt senior Matt Festa improved to 8-0 and set ESU's career record with his 20th win.

In game two Sunday, Holup threw a complete game, allowing one run on six hits with seven strikeouts and one walk, to improve to 4-1 on the season.

ESU remains second in the PSAC East behind Millersville with 16 of 28 divisional games completed.

GAME 1 - W 11-8

ESU outslugged Shippensburg to win the opener, with the help of quality relief work from redshirt junior left-hander Marty Martens (1.1 IP, 2 strikeouts, 2 walks) and junior SS Conner Crookham, who had a one-pitch save to finish the game.

The Warriors trailed 4-1 going to the bottom of the fourth before putting up a seven-run frame, capped by Bennie's grand slam.

Ship took a 1-0 lead in the second and pushed it to 2-0 in the third before ESU got on the board in the bottom of the half as sophomore catcher Steven Zimmerman, Jr. reached on an error, redshirt junior 2B Jay Young singled, Bennie was hit by a pitch to load the bases and Zimmerman scored on a balk.

Ship extended its lead to 4-1 in the fourth on a two-run homer by Jake Kennedy before the Warriors rallied.

Redshirt senior 3B Drew Hercik singled, sophomore OF Christian Rishel had a one-out single, redshirt junior OF Casey Saverio walked to load the bases and Zimmerman was hit by a pitch to plate the inning's first run. Young followed with an RBI single to make it 4-3, and Bennie turned it into a 7-4 game with a grand slam to left field.

Junior OF Ian Allen was hit by a pitch, stole second, moved to third on a throwing error and scored on a two-out RBI single by Hercik for an 8-4 advantage.

Dalton Hoiles cut the ESU lead to 8-5 with a two-out RBI single in the fifth, but the Warriors responded with two in  the bottom half for a 10-5 edge as Rishel and Zimmerman singled and Bennie had a two-out, two-RBI single.

In the sixth, Ship made it 10-8 - scoring three runs on three hits, a hit batter and a couple of wild pitches - before Martens entered with the bases loaded and got Hoiles to ground into a double play to end the threat.

The Warriors padded their lead to 11-8 in the bottom of the sixth as Hercik walked, stole second and scored on a ground-rule RBI double by Rishel.

In the seventh, Martens struck out the first two batters before issuing a pair of walks, bringing on Crookham, who got leadoff hitter Mike Marcinko to fly out to right to end it.

Redshirt senior Cody Klinger was the winning pitcher for the Warriors, going 5.0 innings (7 runs, 8 hits, 6 strikeouts, 2 walks) before being relieved by junior Ben Bortz, Martens and Klinger.

Gabe Mosser (3.1 IP, 8 runs, 6 earned, 5 hits, 4 strikeouts, 2 walks) and Rich Michaud (2.0 IP, 3 runs, 6 hits, 2 strikeouts, 1 walk) handled most of the mound duties for Ship.

The Warriors had 12 hits, three walks and three HBP led by Bennie (2-for-3, HR, HBP, 6 RBI, run), Allen (1-for-2, walk, HBP, run), Hercik (2-for-3, walk, RBI, 2 runs), Rishel (3-for-4, double, RBI, 2 runs), Saverio (1-for-3, walk, run), Zimmerman (1-for-3, HBP, RBI, 3 runs) and Young (2-for-4, RBI, run).

GAME 2 - W 3-1

ESU never trailed, taking a 1-0 lead in the first and answering Ship's run in the fourth with two in the bottom half to support Holup, who threw his third complete game of the season.

After Holup stranded Marcinko's leadoff double in the top of the first, Bennie doubled and scored on a one-out single by redshirt junior SS Conner Crookham in the bottom half.

Ship tied it in the fourth as Hoiles doubled and scored on a single by Nick Spangler.

In the bottom of the fourth, Rishel and Young singled to set up a pair of two-out RBI singles by junior Billy Sablinski and Bennie for a 3-1 lead.

Holup got a double play in the fifth, threw a perfect sixth and pitched around a leadoff single by Ryan McMillen in the seventh, getting a strikeout, diving catch by Rishel in right and another strikeout to end it.

Bennie (2-for-3, double, RBI, run) was the only Warrior with multiple hits as ESU had seven hits in the contest.

Kyle McClintock, who threw 2.1 innings for the save in Ship's 9-6 win in game two on Friday, threw a complete game (6.0 IP, 3 runs, 7 hits, 5 strikeouts, 2 walks) for the Raiders.


GAME NOTES
* Bennie's home run was his 9th of the season and ESU's 39th, matching the 1984 team for the 2nd-most in program history (44 in 2009)

* Bennie's grand slam was the Warrior's 3rd of the season (Matt Walewski at Chowan, Conner Crookham vs. Shepherd)

* ESU hit .324 (36-for-111) with a .432 on-base percentage and .414 slugging percentage in the series, outscoring Ship 26-20.

* The Warriors entered the week ranked 2nd in DII in runs per game (9.9), 2nd in batting (.362), 1st in on-base % (.465) and 6th in slugging % (.558).

* Through 35 games, the Warriors are hitting .358 with a .462 on-base % and .544 slugging %.

* Bennie is hitting .446/.503/.763 with 13 doubles, 2 triples, 9 home runs, 39 RBI (t-2nd on team) and 47 runs (1st on team) in the leadoff spot.

* Bennie, Young (.402 - 43-for-107), Hercik (.402 - 45-for-112) and Rishel (.402 - 47-for-117)  are all hitting over .400 through the second weekend in April.

* Grand slams by Joe and Robert Bennie at ESU:
Joe - 2013 (April 9) at Mercy
Robert - 2016 (April 10) vs Shippensburg