GREENSBURG, Pa. – The IUP baseball team bounced back from its last divisional series with an impressive doubleheader sweep of Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) power Seton Hill. The Crimson Hawks began the day with a 13-3 victory before battling back on several occasions in a 5-4 triumph in the night cap.
IUP (18-9, 8-5) gets right back into the thick of the PSAC West playoff picture with the doubleheader sweep, leapfrogging Seton Hill (22-10, 8-5) for fourth place in the division. Seton Hill was receiving votes in the latest NCBWA DII Top 25.
The game one win snapped a five-game losing streak to the Griffins, who were swept in a doubleheader at home for the first time since the 2022 season. IUP had two stellar starting pitching efforts from
Derrick Shields and
Mark Edeburn, while
Brady Yard combined for four hits and the game-winning knock in the seventh inning of game two.
Game One: IUP 13, Seton Hill 3
Shields was superb in a complete game effort, allowing two of his final three runs in the seventh inning while fanning eight. Offensively, IUP racked up eight runs in the fourth inning as part of a 13-3 victory.
Shields needed 92 pitches to navigate through a potent Seton Hill lineup. He allowed just one hit through the initial six innings, a solo homer in the fourth inning. In fact, all three of the Griffins runs in the game came off home run swings.
Five players collected at least two hits for IUP in the opening game. Finishing with 14 hits on the day, a stretch of homer runs from
Brady Yard and
Peyton Johnson handed all the momentum to the Hawks with a 10-1 lead.
Ricardo Aponte and
Au'sean Owens paced the IUP offense with three knocks each. The duo each drove in a pair of runs, while Owens scored two runs of his own in a productive day at the dish.
Neither side found the scoreboards until the Crimson Hawks broke through against SHU starter Brandon Bergert. With one out, IUP manufactured some offense in the fourth inning.
David Kessler scored on an error for a 1-0 lead before the next five batters drove in a run for the Hawks.
Owens and
Harrison Pontoli singled home runs for a 3-0 margin before Aponte brought home the duo with a double.
Andrew Sicinski punched an RBI single to center field before
Elijah Dunn grounded one back to the pitcher for the Hawks' eighth run of the stanza.
IUP kept pouring it on in the fifth with a leadoff homer from Yard and and another from Johnson for a 10-1 margin. Owens and Kessler notched run-scoring knocks in the sixth and seventh innings for IUP before the Griffins got two runs back with a homer to left center in the home half.
Game Two: IUP 5, Seton Hill 4
IUP battled in a see saw second game, securing the doubleheader split with a 5-4 victory against the Griffins.
Mark Edeburn battled into the sixth inning on the mound for the Crimson Hawks with a gritty effort before
Dane Samartino entered to secure his fourth victory of the season in relief.
The Hawks trailed 2-0 in the game before the Griffins rallied to level the score at three and four in a back-and-forth affair. Ultimately it was Yard's go-ahead single in the top half of the seventh and timely pitching from Samartino late that handed the Hawks the doubleheader sweep.
Yard and Kessler posted two hits apiece in game two, while Landers and Johnson recorded two RBI each. Edeburn logged six strikeouts and Samartino clamped down with 1.1 innings of hitless relief.
Landers leveled the game with a two-run double in the fourth. Johnson put the Hawks in front for the first time in game two with a sacrifice fly, the first of two go-ahead sacrifice hits from Johnson with one in the fourth and another in the sixth.
With the score tied, Yard fought off a single into shallow right that plated Aponte for a 5-4 advantage. Edeburn continues climbing up the career pitching ranks for the Crimson Hawks, now third in innings pitched (210.1) tied for fourth in starts (32) and ninth in strikeouts (160).
Up Next
IUP and Seton Hill finish out the four-game divisional series on Sunday, April 14. The Crimson Hawks will serve as the home team for the games played in Greensburg.
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