Mulhall

Just after its 5-4 and 4-2 doubleheader success at chilled Fairfax Field, the suddenly rejuvenated Red Raiders stood as a group in front of their dugout and celebrated for one of the few times this baseball season.

With just a 7-17 overall record before playing a three-game weekend series against the hit-hunting Rams, Shippensburg toasted its mid-season wins. The Red Raiders had held off a late-game rally on Friday, to post a 4-3 win. And then on a frosty Saturday in Shepherdstown came two more wins over the hit-shy Rams.

Neither team scored much. But Shippensburg did just enough to shove the Rams back in the conference standings and jeopardize their chances of qualifying for the league playoffs.

Winning one- and two-run games has always been the way to succeed at any level of organized baseball.

Haddaway

The bottom four in Shepherd’s lineup for all three games struggled to provide much if any offense as Shippensburg’s pitchers refused to help them with walks or hit batsmen.

On Friday, the bottom four batters went a collective 4-for-16 with seven strikeouts. In Saturday’s wind-whipped opener, the bottom tier was more productive with Brennan Holmes landing a home run and freshman Gino Serechia getting a triple, but struck out three times and hit into two double plays. Then in the nightcap loss by two runs, the bottom four in the Ram order was a collective 1-for-13. None of the last four batters in the Ram lineup was hitting over .220 before the Shippensburg series and three of six players used in those slots were below the .100 mark.

The loss for the Rams was their fourth in a row, coming on the heels of an 11-5 defeat in Mansfield on March 21.

Shepherd stood at 8-11-1 overall and 3-5-1 in conference play, and has yet to see the division leaders — Millersville, West Chester or East Stroudsburg — this spring/winter.

Losses by one or two runs can be filled with “what ifs” and the Rams could be looking at Saturday’s loss in the nightcap where they left 12 runners on base. The Rams stranded nine runners in Friday’s one-run loss.

Doss

Shippensburg’s three starting pitchers in the three-game sweep — Nick Zegna, Noah Nabholz and Gabe Stotler — gave the Red Raiders a chance to win in all three low-run games. And even with just four runs, five runs and four runs, they did sweep.

Shepherd’s “loudest” hits on Saturday besides the extra base hits from Holmes and Serechia were home runs by Ross Mulhall and Ryan Haddaway and a Zach Doss double. Doss was hitting. 382 after Saturdays’ games were over.

Kutztown, 7-16 overall and 2-7 in the conference, is at Fairfax Field for a single game this afternoon at 2 p.m. and then hosts the Rams in a doubleheader tomorrow.

With Millersville (19-5), West Chester (15-3) and East Stroudsburg (21-6) on the horizon, the Rams need to do some previously unseen offensive things against the struggling Golden Bears.

Serechia

Holmes