Game 1 Boxscore
Game 2 Boxscore

Chris Douglas (Canonsburg/Canon-McMillan) allowed only two hits in six innings and the IUP bats erupted for 15 hits in a 9-1 victory over Chowan in the second game of Saturday's season-opening doubleheader in Murfreesboro, N.C.

Chowan won the opener 2-1 despite two-hit shutout pitching by Crimson Hawk starter Greg Stewart (Kittanning/Elderton).

After managing only four hits off three Chowan pitchers in the first game, IUP again trailed 1-0 after three innings of the nightcap. The Crimson Hawks then scored three runs after two were out in the fourth to grab the lead.

Frank Sirolli (Cinnaminson, N.J./Cinnaminson) led off with a single and was at second with two outs when Tyler Mroz (Pittsburgh/Chartiers Valley) grounded a single up the middle to tie the game. Jacob Shaffer (Vandergrift, Pa./Kiski Area) followed with an RBI triple and Brett Quiggle (Weedville/St. Marys) singled to cap the three-run uprising.

Robbie Zinsmeister (Hatfield/North Penn) homered with one out in the fifth, and Vern Powell (Tabernacle, N.J./Seneca) and Mroz drove in runs to boost the Crimson Hawk lead to 6-1. In the seventh, Mroz added his third RBI of the game with a single, Quiggle walked with the bases loaded and Aaron Lupia (Middletown/Middletown) singled in a run for IUP's third three-run inning in the final four frames.

Meanwhile, Douglas was in control, allowing only a single run in the second on a suicide squeeze and finishing with five strikeouts. Evan Phillips (Harrisburg/Susquehanna Township) pitched a perfect seventh to close out the win.

IUP took a 1-0 lead in the second inning of the opener when Dylan Songer (Baden/North Allegheny) doubled and scored on a two-out single by Quiggle. Songer had two hits in both games of the twinbill while Powell had three hits in the second game.

It stayed a one-run game as Stewart blanked the Hawks through five innings, striking out three. However, Chowan reached reliever Stephen Cooke (Severn, MD/Archbishop Curley) for two hits and a pair of walks in the seventh, with Justin Shockley and Ryan Moore driving in runs with singles.

The two teams play another doubleheader Sunday at noon.