Box Scores
W 9-7
W 11-3

Saturday recap  l  Photo Gallery

MANSFIELD - Sophomore right-hander Evan Steele threw 5.0 innings without allowing an earned run in an 11-3 win in the nightcap after East Stroudsburg University rallied for a 9-7 victory in the opener, taking both ends of a PSAC East baseball doubleheader at Mansfield on Sunday.

ESU (12-7) took 3-of-4 games from Mansfield on the opening weekend of PSAC East action after splitting Saturday, winning 5-3 before Mansfield rallied for a 5-4 win in game two.

Steele retired 11 straight at one point in game two on Sunday, yielding just two hits - a leadoff single in the first, and an RBI single in the fifth - with five strikeouts and one walk.

The offense had 21 hits in the sweep, including 12 in the second game. Senior OF Charles Edwards had two hits in both games, going 4-for-5 with a double, five RBI and two runs. Senior 1B Laine Renaud was 4-for-7 with a double, walk, RBI and three runs, and junior OF Zarley Cina went 3-for-8 with two doubles, an RBI and two runs.

ESU hit .315 for the weekend led by Renaud (6-for-13, 3 doubles, walk, 3 RBI, 3 runs), Cina (5-for-16, 2 doubles, 2 RBI, 2 runs) and senior C Steven Zimmerman, Jr. (4-for-12, walk, 3 HBP, RBI, 7 runs) as the Warriors outscored MU, 29-18.

ESU's pitching held Mansfield to a .228 average and just 23 hits across the four games. Sophomore Connor Johnson retired the first 12 he faced in Saturday's series opener, along with Steele's 11-batter stretch on Sunday.

ESU head coach John Kochmansky, in his 11th season, improved to 299-210-2. He set ESU's career record for wins in 2016 and can reach the 300-win mark on Wednesday at Molloy.

Game 1

ESU led 6-0 through four innings, before Mansfield scored seven in its half of the fifth (ESU was designated as the home team) on three hits, four walks, a hit batter, wild pitch, balk and an error to take a 7-6 lead.

The Warriors tied it in the bottom of the fifth as redshirt sophomore OF Tom Nuneviller and redshirt junior DH PJ Van Orman walked, before Edwards delivered the game-tying RBI single with one out.

Sophomore left-hander Tyler Stafursky, the last of three ESU pitchers in the fifth, got a strikeout with the bases loaded to end the top of the sixth to keep the score tied 7-7.

In the bottom, Cina led off with a double and scored on an RBI single by Zimmerman, followed by a sacrifice bunt by freshman 3B Brock Kauffman and an RBI single by Renaud for a 9-7 lead.

Senior Nick DiEva pitched around a leadoff double in the top of the seventh, getting a popout, strikeout and flyout to earn his first save of the season after posting three in 2017.

ESU built its 6-0 lead with four runs in the second and two in the fourth. Renaud doubled and advanced on a wild pitch and passed ball, redshirt junior OF Christian Rishel walked, Van Orman was hit by a pitch, Edwards had a one-out RBI single and stole second and freshman 2B Brainy Rojas followed with a two-RBI single for a 4-0 lead.

In the fourth, Rojas reached on an error with one out and scored after a pair of wild pitches, and Zimmerman drew a two-out walk and scored on an outfield error with Kauffman batting.

Renaud (3-for-4, double, RBI, run) and Edwards (2-for-3, 2 RBI, run) led ESU's nine hits. Zimmerman was 1-for-3 with a walk, RBI and two runs, and Rojas was 1-for-3 with two RBI and a run.

Stafursky got the win in relief with 1.1 innings pitched (0 runs, 2 hits, 2 strikeouts, 2 walks).

Sophomore Carson Freeman (4.2 IP, 4 runs, 5 hits, 2 strikeouts, 3 walks) blanked Mansfield for four innings before the fifth.

Game 2

ESU scored in each of its last five innings - three in the second and third, one in the fourth and two each in the fifth and sixth - to give Steele constant run support.

Steele stranded a leadoff single in the first and hit the first two batters in the second inning, but got a strikeout and groundout with runners on second and third with one out to maintain the 0-0 score. He didn't give up another baserunner until there were two outs in the fifth.

ESU struck in the bottom of the second, capitalizing on a Mansfield error that would have ended the inning after Renaud's leadoff single. Edwards had a two-run single, stole second and scored on an RBI single by Rojas for a 3-0 lead.

Redshirt junior DH Mike Sulcoski (2-for-4, 2 doubles, 2 RBI, 2 runs) had the key blow in the third, a two-run double to score Zimmerman, who singled, and Renaud, who walked. After sophomore SS Joey Paolini was hit by a pitch, Edwards clubbed an RBI double to make it 6-0.

Cina hit a leadoff single and Kauffman had a one-out RBI double in the fourth. Sulcoski doubled and Paolini walked to start the bottom of the fifth, Edwards had a sacrifice bunt, Rojas had an RBI groundout and Cina had a two-out RBI double for a 9-1 count after Mansfield scored an unearned run in the top of the fifth.

Freeman, the game 1 starting pitcher, was a defensive replacement in the outfield in the nightcap and hit a two-run homer, his second of the season and the fifth of his career, after a Kauffman single in the sixth.

Mansfield got a two-run homer by Brady Mengel in the seventh after redshirt sophomore Chris Crookham pitched a 1-2-3 sixth.

Four Warriors - Cina (2-for-4, double, RBI, run), Edwards (2-for-2, double, 3 RBI, run), Sulcoski and Kauffman (2-for-4, double, RBI, run) - had two hits each.

ESU takes on West Chester, the defending NCAA Division II champion for the second time in six years, in conference action next weekend. WCU dropped three of four vs. Lock Haven this weekend.