Shippensburg, Pa. - It took nearly a month for Millersville and Shippensburg to complete the season series, but the Marauders finally polished off the sweep Wednesday with a 6-2 win at Fairchild Field.
Dominic Hardaway set the tone with a two-run home run in the top of the first, and he went on to reach base three times, scoring all three times. He also stole a base.
Kaylor Kulina,
Jimmy Cain and
Cole Friese had two hits each. Millersville's leadoff runner reached base four times and scored each time.
Millersville's pitching staff pieced together a solid performance. Seven pitchers combined to work the seven-inning game, scattering seven hits and totaling six strikeouts. Freshman
Andrew Mayhew logged three shutout innings for the win.
Bobby Dorta, who started the game as the designated hitter and drove in a run in the fifth, pitched 1 1/3 innings.
Mike Mock closed out the game in the seventh, striking out two.
After Hardaway's first-inning homer, the Marauders took advantage of a hit batsman and a walk in the third. Kulina's sacrifice fly brought home
Ben Snyder, and
Cole Friese, who went 2 for 4, executed a squeeze play with Hardaway coming home from third. Cain drew a leadoff walk in the fifth and later scored on Dorta's RBI ground out, giving Millersville a 5-1 lead. Shippensburg cut Millersville's advantage to 5-2 in the sixth, but again, a leadoff walk proved costly for the Raiders. Hardaway reached on a walk, stole second and scored on Kulina's single to left.
Weather continually altered the meetings between the Marauders and Raiders, and rather than four games in two days, the teams first played one postponed game on March 28 and two at Millersville on Wednesday, April 4. It is Millersville's first regular season sweep of Shippensburg since 2010.
Millersville, now 22-13 overall and 10-6 in PSAC East play, begins its series with East Stroudsburg Friday.