EAST STROUDSBURG – The East Stroudsburg University baseball team won their sixth consecutive game as the Warriors swept Lock Haven on Saturday afternoon at Creekview Park. ESU shutout the Bald Eagles 3-0 in the opener before closing out the series with a 7-2 victory.  

In the opener, head coach John Kochmansky collected the 400th victory of his career and improved to 401-272-5 in his 15th season with the Warriors.

Prior to today's opener, the Warriors honored the 10 members of their senior class in Drew Hefner, CJ Peechatka, Brock Kauffman, Nate Fiala, Nathan Kitchell, Brainy Rojas, Connor Takacs, Tommy Dunleavy and Justin Guidos.

The Warriors improved to 32-13 on the season and 13-8 in the conference while the Bald Eagles fell to 9-29 overall and 2-19 in the PSAC East.

By winning their last six conference games, the Warriors have jumped up to a No. 4 in the PSAC East standings with each team having a three-game series remaining next weekend.

Brent Francisco fired his second consecutive complete game shutout in game one as the redshirt sophomore pitched 7.0 innings, allowing four hits while striking out six. Francisco has not allowed a run in 14 straight innings, lowering his ERA to 2.79 while also raising his PSAC-leading strikeout total to 93.

In the series finale, Tom Reisinger moved to 6-3 after throwing 6.0 innings, yielding one run on five hits while striking out seven. Justin Guidos pitched the final 3.0 innings in relief, surrendering one run on a lone hit.

Offensively on the afternoon, the Warriors were led by seniors Brock Kauffman and Brainy Rojas. Kauffman went 3-for-7 with two doubles, a RBI and a run while Rojas recorded three hits, including his fifth home run of the season as well as three RBI and two runs.

Freshman Jack Rothenhausler continued to impress as he reached four times, using two hits and pair of hit by pitches to go with two runs scored. In 102 at-bats this season, Rothenhausler is hitting .373 with a .435 on-base and .706 slugging percentage.

Notables

- Brainy Rojas scored the 152nd run of his career today to move up into a tie for fourth all-time in program history and remains second for stolen bases with 75

- Ben Piripavel stretched his team-high on-base streak to 22 games after reaching three times on the afternoon

- CJ Peechatka continues to swing a hot bat as he extended his team-best hitting streak to 11 games with two singles

- The Warriors stole two bases in today's opener to increase their season total 120, which ranks second in the conference and fifth in all of NCAA Division II

How it Happened – Game One

The Warriors jumped on Lock Haven early, plating three runs on three hits to make the score 3-0. Following a one-out walk and a stolen base from Piripavel, the redshirt sophomore came around to score the game's first run on a ground rule double from Kauffman. Then with runners in scoring position and two outs, Torreullas delivered a double to score Kauffman and Peechatka, who reached on a base hit.

How it Happened – Game Two

Following a pair of singles from Rojas and Piripavel to lead off the bottom of the first inning, the Warriors took a 1-0 lead as Peechatka recorded an RBI groundout.

ESU added two more runs on three hits in the home half of the second to push their advantage to 3-0. With runners on first and second, Piatkiewicz delivered a single up the middle to plate Rothenhausler and Rojas followed with another base hit to bring home Haverstick.

The Bald Eagles got on the board in the top of the sixth inning as a one out walk, followed by a single, set up Joe Shannon with an RBI base knock to make the score 3-1.

The Warriors got four runs right back using five hits in the home half of the frame to help reextend their advantage to 7-1. Piatkiewicz got the scoring started with a two-run double that brought around a pair and Rojas capped off the inning with a two-run home run over the left field fence.

Lock Haven made the finals score 7-2 in the top of the eighth inning as with runners in scoring position, the Warriors conceded a run on an RBI groundout from Blaise Zeiders.

Up Next

The Warriors travel to Molloy on Tuesday, May 3 for their final non-conference game of the regular season against the Lions at 3 p.m. from the Mitchel Field Athletic Complex.