IUP baseball team splits doubleheader

The IUP baseball team split its doubleheader against Shippensburg Tuesday, winning the first game 11-5 and losing the second game 7-3.

IUP picked up four runs off of five hits in the first inning. Frank Sirolli opened the game with a double and scored on a wild pitch. Mike Lupia picked up the second run with an RBI single. Dylan Songer singled toward right field that brought the score to 4-0, ending the first inning success.

In the second inning, two more runs were picked up as Robbie Zinsmeister singled to bring in Vern Powell and Sirolli, increasing the lead to six.

Shippensburg cut the six-point lead in half with three runs in the fourth inning. Tyler Uphouse and Steve Sulcoski were the first two batters up and both were walked. After  Kris Kullman picked up the first run for Shippensburg, Ben Weimer was brought in to pitch for Evan Phillips.  Even with the pitching change, Shippensburg scored twice to cut the lead in half.

The Hawks finished the game scoring five runs in the final two innings and won 11-5.  Powell picked up three runs off of four hits. Sirolli finished the game going two for four, getting two runs in the process.

Chris Douglas picked up his second win, allowing zero runs off of one hit pitching the first two innings of the game. Stephen Cooke closed the game pitching the final two innings, striking out three of his seven faced batters and allowing only one hit.

The Hawks were not as fortunate during the second game.

Shippensburg got off to a similar start that IUP had in the first game by scoring three runs in the first inning. Ben Miller put Shippensburg ahead with an RBI single and then scored on a wild pitch. The third run came when Uphouse scored on a passed ball.

IUP found some relief in the fifth inning when Andrew Welch was brought in by the sacrifice fly, but the one run was not enough.

Shippensburg scored two more times in the sixth inning to increase the lead to 7-1, and seemingly put the nail in the coffin.

Welch scored again in the seventh inning after Powell grounded out. Zinsmeister picked up another RBI in the day with a single, allowing Cory Sawka to score. Despite the late rally, IUP fell short 7-3.

Powel and Zinsmeister both went one for three, and had one RBI. Mitch Perez picked up his first loss of the season, giving up three runs in the first inning.

The Hawks are now 8-8 and are looking forward to opening up PSAC West play 1 p.m. today with a doubleheader on the road against Lock Haven.

IUP will travel back to Indiana 1 p.m. Saturday to play Lock Haven in another doubleheader.