BLOOMSBURG, Pa. - The Bloomsburg University baseball team clinched a spot in the upcoming Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Tournament after earning a split with visiting Shippensburg University on Thursday afternoon at Danny Litwhiler Field. The Huskies won game one by a 13-1 final before the Raiders salvaged the split with a 7-4 victory in game two. Bloomsburg moved to 17-13 overall with an identical mark in the PSAC Eastern Division, while Shippensburg moved to 16-18 overall and 14-16 in divisional play.

The Huskies entered the afternoon needing one victory in the four-game series to clinch a berth in the conference playoffs, and they wasted little time by earning a 13-1 win in the opening game against the Raiders. It marks the third consecutive season that the Huskies will battle for a conference title and enter this year's tournament as the defending PSAC champion after winning its first conference championship in 54 years back in 2019. The 2020 postseason was not conducted due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Redshirt sophomore Jared Marshman (Berwick, Pa./Berwick) went six strong innings in his third start of the season, and the bats erupted with nine runs in the final two at-bats to break open a 4-1 game through four-and-a-half innings. Marshman allowed a run on seven hits, walked one, and struck out three to improve to 3-1 on the season. The right-hander threw 84 pitches on the afternoon - 56 for strikes. Sophomore Brandon Walters (York, Pa./Central York) pitched a scoreless seventh to shut the door on the opener.

Bloomsburg scored two runs in the bottom of the first inning against Shippensburg starter Kiernan Higgins. Redshirt sophomore Anthony Viggiano (Wallingford, Pa./Strath Haven) led off with a single and then advanced to second on a walk to redshirt junior Carter Chasanov (Magnolia, Del./Polytech). After a deep flyout off the bat of redshirt junior Kyle OFier (Pittston Township, Pa./Pittston Area) moved Viggiano to third, redshirt junior Jared Burcin (Bethlehem, Pa./Liberty) plated Viggiano with an RBI groundout for the first run of the ballgame. Redshirt junior Ben Newbert (Bala Cynwyd, Pa./Harriton) followed with a run-scoring double to bring home Chasanov for the inning's second run.

The Huskies added two more in the second to push the lead to 4-0. Senior Gianni Sinatore (Whitehall, Pa./Whitehall) started the rally with a one-out double and then scored on an RBI single from redshirt junior Jake Reed (Quakertown, Pa./Quakertown) for the first run of the frame. Viggiano followed with a single, and Chasanov made it four consecutive hits with an RBI single that scored Reed to extend the margin to 4-0. Bloomsburg had an opportunity to do more damage, but Higgins was able to retire Newbert with the bases loaded to prevent a bigger inning.

Shippensburg scored its only run off of Marshman in the top of the third as JuJu Cason led off with a triple to right and then scored on an RBI single from Ben Werkheiser to cut the Huskies' lead to 4-1.

The score remained 4-1 until the Huskies scored five times in the bottom of the fifth to take a 9-1 advantage. OFier started the inning with a single, and Burcin followed with a walk to put runners at first and second with nobody out. Two batters later, senior Andrew Holmes (Egg Harbor Township, N.J./Egg Harbor Township) was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Then senior Cole Swiger (Maple Glen, Pa./Upper Dublin) provided the first scoring of the inning with a two-run double to extend the lead to 6-1, ending the afternoon for Higgins. Matt Ryan came on to pitch for the Raiders and was greeted rudely by Sinatore, who belted a three-run home run over the left-field fence to balloon the margin to 9-1. The round-tripper was Sinatore's seventh of the season.

Marshman saw his string of nine consecutive batters come to an end in the top of the sixth as he allowed a one-out single to Chase Zurawski. The right-hander, however, induced a double play off the bat of Andrew Chronister to end his afternoon.

Bloomsburg added four more runs in the bottom of the sixth to extend its lead to 13-1. The Huskies put the first three runners on base after a single from Chasanov and back-to-back walks to OFier and Burcin. A wild pitch brought home Chasanov for the first run of the inning, and then Swiger provided the remainder of the offense with a three-run blast to right-center for the final margin. It was Swiger's third home run in his last six games and was his fifth blast of the season. The senior now has 26 round-trippers for his career - tying him with OFier and Trevor Fetterman (1996-99) for second in program history.

Walters pitched around a pair of walks in the seventh to shut the door.

Higgins dropped to 4-5 on the year after allowing eight runs on nine hits in 4.1 innings. He walked four and struck out four.

Bloomsburg had 12 hits in game one with the 7-8-9 hitters - Swiger, Sinatore, and Reed - combining to go 6-for-11 with five runs scored and nine RBI.

Freshman Matt Vernieri (Barnegat, N.J./Barnegat) made his first collegiate start in game two for the Huskies but could not get out of the first inning as the Raiders jumped on the young right-hander for four runs on three hits and two walks in the top of the first to take a 4-0 lead. Redshirt freshman Logan Hile (Winfield, Pa./Selinsgrove Area) came on in relief to record the final out of the inning to prevent further damage.

Shippensburg added a run in the top of the second against Hile to take a 5-0 advantage. However, the Huskies finally solved Raiders' starter Kyle Lysy in the bottom of the third when Sinatore launched the first pitch he saw for a one-out solo home run to right-center field to get the hosts on the board. It was the first baserunner for the Huskies against Lysy and proved to be the only baserunner until Bloomsburg got the bats going in the bottom of the fifth. Meanwhile, the home run by Sinatore was his eighth of the year - tying him for the team lead with OFier.

Swiger started the fifth-inning rally with a one-out single and then advanced to third on a double from redshirt sophomore Tyler Wiik (Fogelsville, Pa./Northwestern Lehigh). Sinatore followed with a single back up the middle to score Swiger, cutting the Raiders' lead to 5-2. Reed then lifted a sacrifice fly to right to score Wiik for the inning's second run, further trimming the Shippensburg advantage. Viggiano kept the inning alive with a single, and then Chasanov followed with a single to bring home Sinatore, pulling the Huskies to within a run at 5-4. Lysy, however, retired OFier with runners at second and third to end the inning.

The Raiders got two runs back in the top of the sixth against freshman Dylan Lubinski (Levittown, Pa./Pennsbury), and Shippensburg reliever Noah Nabholz pitched a scoreless sixth and seventh innings to earn his first save of the season.

Vernieri was charged with the loss to fall to 0-1 on the season. Hile went 3.1 innings and allowed one run on one hit while walking two and striking out three. Lubinski tossed the final three innings and allowed two runs on four hits with a walk and two punchouts.

Lysy improved to 5-3 on the season for Shippensburg as he went five innings and allowed four runs on six hits, no walks, and five strikeouts.

Bloomsburg had seven hits in game two - two each from Swiger and Sinatore.

The two teams will wrap up the regular season on Friday in Shippensburg, with the first pitch of game one scheduled to be thrown at 11:00 a.m. The start time has been pushed up one hour in an attempt to beat some inclement weather expected to hit the area later in the day.