STROUDSBURG – After seeing their 15-game win streak come to an end in game one, the East Stroudsburg University baseball team responded by slugging six home runs in the series finale to split the doubleheader against Pitt-Johnstown on Friday at Creekview Park. The Mountain Cats took the opener 7-4 before the Warriors responded with a 12-8 victory in the rubber match.

Through their first 20 games, the Warriors go to 17-3 overall which is just shy of their 18-2 mark set during the 2016 season. Pitt-Johnstown moves to 7-5-1 on the year.

The six long balls by ESU in game two was the second time since 2003 that the Warriors have reached that mark in a game. Graduate student CJ Peeckatka supplied the power with three blasts of his own to become the first player since Dylan Tamecki in 2017 with three home runs in a game. Also putting the ball over the fence for ESU was Brainy Rojas, Tim Haverstick and Jeremy Piatkiewicz.

Peechatka finished the game a perfect 4-for-4 with a double, 3 HR, four runs batted, four runs scored and a walk. Rojas went 2-for-3 with a home run, three RBI, two runs and two walks while Haverstick was 2-for-4 to go along with two RBI and a run.

In the opener, Chase Nowak was perfect through the first 4.2 innings before his final line finished with two runs, four hits and six strikeouts across 5.1 innings of work.

Mike Yates picked the victory in game two after pitching 3.0 innings of relief in which he allowed one run on two hits while punching out a pair. Starter Brent Francisco went 4.0 innings, allowing four runs on five hits and striking out four.

Notables

- By collecting two more RBI today, Kauffman now has 138 in his career which is eight away from tying the school record of 146 held by Chris Knott (2011-14).

- Rojas is now up to 103 career walks which is seven shy of breaking the program record set by Ian Allen (109) from 2014-17. Rojas also moved up to seventh all-time in career runs with 133.

- ESU was 6-for-7 on stolen bases to push their season total to 61-of-68 (89.7%)

How it Happened – Game One

After a scoreless first three innings for ESU, the Warriors took advantage of a leadoff double from Rojas to plate the first run of the game. Kauffman singled home Rojas on a ball up the middle to give ESU a 1-0 lead.

With Nowak perfect through the first 4.2 innings, Lennox Pugh broke through for the Mountain Cats with a home run to right center field in the top of the fifth to tie game at 1-1.

Pitt-Johnstown grabbed their first lead of the series in the top of the sixth inning as Justin Turcowski came around to score on an infield from single from Mario Disso following his leadoff triple to right field. The Mountain Cats loaded the bases with one out, but Nate Fiala got the Warriors out of trouble to keep the score at 2-1.

The Warriors got the run right back in the home half of the inning as Kauffman delivered a sacrifice fly to right field which allowed Piatkiewicz to make the score 2-2. Piatkiewicz got into scoring position with a leadoff walk, followed by a free pass to Piripavel and a wild pitch by the Mountain Cats pitcher.

Pitt-Johnstown regained the lead in the top of the seventh inning as the Mountain Cats took advantage of back to back walks to begin the frame. After the runners moved up 90 feet on a wild pitch, Turkovski triple homed the pair to make the score 4-2. The Mountain Cats would add on three more runs the rest of the frame to hold a 7-2 advantage going into ESU's final at-bats.

ESU didn't go quietly in the home half of the inning as Hefner drove in a pair on an RBI single to make the final score 7-4 in favor of the Mountain Cats.  

How it Happened – Game Two

Rojas wasted no time giving ESU the lead as the third pitch he saw was blasted over the left fielder's head to put the Warriors up 1-0.

Pitt-Johnstown responded in the top of the second inning with a three-run blast off the bat of Josh Reynolds to give themselves a 3-1 lead. 

ESU evened the game at 3-3 in the bottom of the third by using two hits to plate a pair of runs. Torreullas got the rally started with a one-out walk before advancing to third on a Peechatka double. Haverstick followed with a sacrifice fly to score Torreullas and Peechatka raced home on a wild pitch for the Warriors' third run.

The Mountain Cats went back in front 4-3 by using three hits to score a run in the top of the fourth inning. Garrett Prosper produced a sacrifice fly with one out and Francisco worked around a bases loaded situation to limit the damage by Pitt-Johnstown.

Peechatka led off the bottom of the fifth inning with a blast over directly over the 385-sign in center field to tie the game at 4-4.

It was déjà vu for the Warriors to open the home half of the sixth as Piatkiewicz sent the first pitch he saw over the right field fence to put ESU ahead 5-4.

However, Pitt-Johnstown would answer with a run in the top of the seventh on a double from Josh Ulery to tie the game for the third time in as many innings.

With the teams deadlocked at 5-5 in the bottom of the sixth inning, the Warriors blew the game open with six runs on five hits to make the score 11-5. Peechatka got ESU started with his second home run of the game and Haverstick followed with back-to-back jacks to put ESU up three. Following walks from Dunleavy and Piatkiewicz, Rojas doubled to drive in two more runs for the Warriors. Torreullas capped of the inning with an RBI single that brought home Rojas.

Pitt-Johnstown took advantage of two errors by ESU in the top of the eighth inning to tack on two runs with two outs. The Warriors misplayed a ground ball which led to a two-RBI single from Disso to get the Mountain Cats within four at 11-7.

Looking for his fourth hit of the game, Peechatka delivered as he sent the ball over the fence for the third time to put ESU back ahead 12-7.

In Pitt-Johnstown's final at-bats, the Warriors sacrificed a run on a double-play ball to make the final score 12-8.

Up Next

The Warriors open conference play next Friday when Shippensburg visits Creekview at 2 p.m. for a single nine-inning game.