STROUDSBURG – It took until the final game of the regular season, but the East Stroudsburg University baseball team secured a spot in next week's PSAC Tournament for the first time since 2019 after defeating Shepherd, 6-1, on Mother's Day at Creekview Park.
ESU secured the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Division, which matches them up against the PSAC West champion in Gannon on Wednesday at 8 p.m. from Slippery Rock's Jack Critchfield Park.
The Warriors conclude the regular season 34-15 overall and 15-9 in the PSAC East while the Rams finish 18-22-1 and 10-13-1 in the conference.
Shepherd jumped out to a 1-0 lead after the first inning, but the Warriors responded by scoring six unanswered the runs the rest of the way, which included a pair of runs in both the second and sixth frames.
After surrendering one run on three hits in the first inning, Chase Nowak (7-0) finished with 6.0 innings pitched (one run, five hits) while striking out three. The Warriors bullpen fired a clean final 3.0 innings as Nate Fiala (1.0 innings) and Justin Guidos (2.0 innings, three strikeouts) combined to allow just three base runners.
ESU got five hits from the top and bottom spots of their line up as Jeremy Piatkiewicz finished 3-for-4 with a double and two runs scored while Brainy Rojas was 2-for-5 with a double, an RBI and a run.
Ben Piripavel had a hit and knocked in a run while Anthony Torreullas and Tommy Dunleavy both tripled to go along with an RBI a piece.
Notables
- CJ Peechatka saw his team-high hitting streak of 14 games come to an end but reached base for the 21st straight contest with a walk
- Rojas scored the 153rd run of his career to sit alone at fourth all-time in program history and still remains second for stolen bases with 76
- Kauffman recorded his 212th career hit to move into a tie for second all-time in school history and is 13 from breaking the school record of 224, set by Jacob DeBoer from 2004-07
- With three more strikeouts today, Nowak increased his career total to 207 which sits at fourth-most in the record book and 32 away from eclipsing Jeremy Gigliotti's program record of 238
- Piatkiewicz swiped ESU's only two stolen bases on the afternoon to push their season total to 126, which ranks second in the PSAC and seventh in all of NCAA Division II
How it Happened – Game One
Shepherd jumped on the Warriors early as Connor DeWees blasted a one-out solo home run to left center field to put the Rams ahead 1-0.
The Warriors answered in the bottom of the second with two runs on a pair of hits to take a 2-1 lead. Rothenhausler got the inning started by being hit by a pitch before coming around to score on a triple from Dunleavy to tie the game. ESU would then go ahead for the first time on the afternoon after Haverstick delivered a sacrifice fly to right field to bring home Dunleavy.
ESU took advantage of a leadoff walk to Peechatka to open the bottom of the third inning as the Warriors increased their advantage to 3-1 after Torruellas produced an RBI triple that landed just inside the right field line.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, the Warriors used two hits and a Shepherd error to stretch their lead to 5-1. Following a one-out single from Piatkiewicz, Rojas delivered a double that one hopped the fence in center field to make the score 4-1. Then with runners on the corners and two outs, Peechatka hit slow roller to the Ram's shortstop, who delivered a high throw to keep the inning alive and plate Rojas.
The Warriors added an insurance run in the home half of the eighth inning to push the score to 6-1. Piatkiewicz led off with a double before stealing third and ultimately crossing home plate on an RBI groundout from Piripavel.
Up Next
The Warriors head out to Western Pennsylvania on Wednesday to begin the PSAC Tournament against No. 1 Gannon at 8 p.m. from Jack Critchfield Park.
