MOC baseball splits with Shippensburg

Published in Sports on February 13, 2005 2:00 AM

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MOC Sports Information

MOUNT OLIVE -- Josh Carter and David Marquez drove in two runs apiece in a five-run first inning and Bryan Corbett went the distance to lead Mount Olive to a 10-4 victory over nationally-ranked Shippensburg in game two of a doubleheader Saturday at Scarborough Field.

Shippensburg, ranked as high as No. 8 in the national polls, won the opener 7-4 in 10 innings as Ryan Miscik's RBI-single sparked a three-run 10th inning.

In the first game, after an error and a wild pitch helped lead Shippensburg to a first-inning run, Mount Olive starter Philip Pennington struck out the side and made it four strikeouts in a row with a strikeout to start the second inning. Shippensburg led 3-1 after Jared Boger led off the top of the third with a home run just inside the left field foul pole.

Mount Olive (3-4) tied the game in the bottom of the fourth as Stephen Nordan doubled home a run and scored when Nick Paniccia's single to left was misplayed. The Trojans scored their first run in the second inning on a bases-loaded double play.

Brett Williams (1-2) entered the game to start the fifth inning for the Trojans and held Shippensburg scoreless for four consecutive innings.

After both teams left two runners on base in the sixth inning, Mount Olive threatened in the bottom of the seventh, but two Shippensburg defensive plays forced extra innings. Right fielder Nick Erdman threw Ricky Davis out at the plate when Davis tried to score from second on Jonathan Pullen's one-out single. The Trojans had runners on first and third with two outs, but second baseman Eric Perlozzo made a diving stop on Nordan's hard-hit grounder for the final out.

Shippensburg (1-1) regained the lead in the top of the ninth on Erdman's RBI-double, but the Trojans tied it again in the bottom of the frame on Pullen's RBI-single. In the top of the 10th, Miscik singled home the go-ahead run and advanced to second on an error. After an intentional walk loaded the bases, Shippensburg scored two more runs on walks.

Reliever Frank D'Agostino (1-0) retired the side in order in the bottom of the 10th for the win.

In game two, Carter singled down the right field line to plate two runs and moved to third on a double by Nordan. Marquez doubled home both runners, moved to third on a sacrifice and scored when Dustin Richardson beat out an infield single to give the Trojans a 5-0 lead after one inning. The Trojans added two runs in the second inning when Michael Glass scored from third on a double steal and Jonathan Pullen scored on a single by Nordan.

Shippensburg chipped away at the lead as Chad Stecker's solo home run to left sparked a two-run third inning and the Raiders added single runs in the fourth and fifth innings to pull within 7-4.

After having left the bases loaded in the bottom of the fourth, Mount Olive loaded the bases again in the fifth, but this time, Davis looped a soft opposite-field single to the left side past a drawn-in infield to score two runs and extend the Trojans' lead to 9-4. Richardson singled home a run in the sixth to cap the scoring.

Corbett (1-0) struck out five and scattered seven hits for Mount Olive.

He recorded back-to-back strikeouts in the first inning after Shippensburg put runners on first and third with one out.

Nordan went 3-for-3 in game two and had five hits on the day, while Richardson went 3-for-4 in game two. In game one, Mount Olive's first five batters in the lineup - Davis, Santos Estremera, Pullen, Carter and Nordan - had two hits apiece to account for 10 of the Trojans' 12 hits.

Mount Olive left nine runners on base in the opener, while Shippensburg stranded 13 runners.

Shippensburg, which is playing its first games of the season, is ranked No. 8 in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Preseason Poll and No. 15 in this week's Collegiate Baseball Division II National Poll.

Mount Olive and Shippensburg play another doubleheader today at Scarborough Field beginning at 1 p.m.