Jake Boyar
Gwen Elsey/SU Sports Info
4
Gannon GANNON 0-1
5
Winner Shippensburg SHIP-B 3-2
Gannon GANNON
0-1
4
Final
5
Shippensburg SHIP-B
3-2
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
Gannon GANNON 0 3 0 0 0 0 1 4 8 3
Shippensburg SHIP-B 1 1 1 0 0 0 2 5 10 0

W: Thomas Davenport (1-0) L: Ayres, Logan (0-1)

7
Gannon GANNON 0-2
8
Winner Shippensburg SHIP-B 4-2
Gannon GANNON
0-2
7
Final
8
Shippensburg SHIP-B
4-2
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 R H E
Gannon GANNON 3 0 0 0 0 3 0 1 0 0 7 11 2
Shippensburg SHIP-B 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 4 0 1 8 17 0

W: Jack Robinson (1-0) L: Boyer, Jaret (0-1)

Game Recap: Baseball | | Bob Shreve, Assistant Director of Athletics Media Relations

Golden Knights Open Season with Pair of Late-Inning Losses at Shippensburg

SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. – For fourth-year head coach DJ Cannon Saturday's season-opening doubleheader at Shippensburg had to feel like déjà vu. The Golden Knights gave up leads in the late inning in both games and ended up dropping both games in walk-off fashion. Gannon fell in the opener in seven innings 5-4 and then lost the nightcap 8-7 in ten innings in a game scheduled for nine innings.
 
A year ago Gannon won just 11 games and lost numerous times in the late innings. But Saturday's twinbill has to leave Cannon encouraged that his Golden Knights battled a strong Shippensburg team picked to finish near the top of the PSAC East and had already played four games.
 
The two teams will play a single nine-inning game on Sunday beginning at 12 noon.
 
Game 1 – Shippensburg 5, Gannon 4
The Raiders opened the bottom of the first with a double and a single but sophomore Jake Boynar (North Ridgeville, Ohio/North Ridgeville) limited the damage to one run. Gannon pushed across three runs, all with two outs, in the top of the second inning. Rhode Island transfer Frank Kula (Uniontown, Pa./Laurel Highlands) led off the winning with a single, stole second and eventually scored on a two-out single to center by freshman Hunter Troiano (Pittsburgh, Pa./Seneca Valley). Ian Soto (Florida, Puerto Rico/Academia Cristiana de Manati) drove in the second run with an infield single and Nick Walker (McKees Rocks, Pa./Montour) made it 3-1 with a bases loaded walk. Shippensburg made it 3-2 with an unearned run in the bottom of the second. The Raiders tied the score at 3-3 with a base hit in the bottom of the third. There was no further scoring until the top of the seventh. Brady Gavula (Butler, Pa./Butler Area) led off the frame with a walk and Reece Colvin (Erie, Pa./Cathedral Prep) entered as pinch runner. He advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored on Kula's single to left. But the Raiders snatched victory away from the Golden Knights in the bottom of the inning, bunching a walk and three singles together for two runs after one out. Boynar turned in a strong showing on the mound in his initial start. He went the first four innings, allowing a pair of earned runs. He scattered five hits, walking three and striking out five. Logan Ayres (New Castle, Pa./Laurel) suffered the loss, throwing the final 2.1 innings. Kula was 2-for-2 with a pair of stolen bases while pitcher turned designated hitter Soto was 2-for-3.
 
Game 2 – Shippensburg 8, Gannon 7 (10 innings)
In a game scheduled for nine innings, Gannon squandered a 7-3 lead as the Raiders tied the game with four runs in the eighth then scored the game-winning run on a walk-off single with two outs. Gannon bunched a walk and four hits to score three runs in the opening inning. Ian Soto's (Florida, Puerto Rico/Academia Cristiana de Manati) double to right plated the first run and Brady Gavula (Butler, Pa./Butler Area) and Cainen Atherton (Mount Union, Pa./Mount Union Area) added RBI singles. Shippensburg answered with a run in the second off Jacob Engel (Erie, Pa./Cathedral Prep), and the Raiders knotted the score with single runs in the fourth and fifth innings. Engel, a redshirt sophomore, went the first four innings, allowing six runs without a walk and striking out four. Cam Ward (Wexford, Pa./North Allegheny) entered in the fifth inning. In the meantime, Ship's JT Weaver settled down after allowing three runs in the first inning, limiting Gannon to just one hit in the next four innings while retiring 12 of 13 batters. But the Golden Knights got to Weaver in the sixth inning. Nick Walker (McKees Rocks, Pa./Montour) opened with a walk and Gavula singled to put runners on first and second. Frank Kula (Uniontown, Pa./Laurel Highlands) looked to move up the runners, laying down a bunt, but he ended up reaching with a base hit. Atherton followed with a single to center field to give Gannon a 5-3 lead. Following a strikeout for the second out Hunter Troiano (Pittsburgh, Pa./Seneca Valley) made it 6-3 with an RBI single to right center, chasing Weaver.  Troiano added a single RBI single in the top of the eighth to make it 7-3, but the Raiders countered with four runs on five hits in the bottom of the inning. Gannon threatened in the top of the ninth with Nick Walker's (McKees Rocks, Pa./Montour) two-out double but could not push across a run. The Golden Knights went three-up and three-down in the top of the tenth. With two outs and runners on first and third AJ Wenrich drove in the winning run with a single down the left field line on a 3-2 pitch. Gannon finished with 11 hits compared to 17 for Shippensburg. Atherton was 2-for-5 with 3 RBIs, while Troiano was 2-for-4 with a pair of RBIs. Soto, Walker and Gavula also had a pair of hits. After stealing two bases in the opener Kula stole two more in the nightcap. Ward pitched three innings and allowed just one run on four hits with two strikeouts.
 
 
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