BUTLER, Pa. – The Shippensburg University baseball team recorded 10 hits on Thursday but was ultimately out-scored by California, 9-3, in an elimination game at the 2015 PSAC Championships on a cool and rainy day from Kelly Automotive Park.
 
Shippensburg (25-25) totaled three runs on 10 hits and one error, while California (25-21) finished with nine runs on 14 hits without committing an error.
 
The Vulcans opened the scoring in the opening frame with a two-run home run to right field.
 
Senior Jimmy Spanos hit a two-out double in the home half of the opening inning but was stranded after sophomore Jake Kennedy lined out to third base. Spanos finished 2-for-4 at the plate.
 
With one out in the second inning, freshman Dalton Hoiles smacked a double off the top of the left-center field wall. In the next at-bat, sophomore Ryan McMillen doubled down the left-field line, scoring Hoiles. McMillen later scored on a two-out single from freshman Nick Spangler.
 
California scored two runs in the third inning, and broke the game open in the fifth, plating five more runs.
 
The fifth inning for the Vulcans was a result of favorable hit placement and shaky SU defense. The leadoff hitter for Cal singled to left field off the end of the bat; then the next batter singled through the right side. Next, on a sacrifice bunt attempt, junior starting pitcher Marcus Shippey fielded the ball, and on an attempt to nab the lead runner at third on a force-out, the ball sailed out of play on an errant throw.
 
Two more seeing-eye singles and a steal of home completed the decisive offensive outburst in the fifth inning for California.
 
Freshman Grant Hoover singled in the seventh inning and later scored on a double from Spangler. Hoover and Spangler each finished 2-for-4.
 
Sophomore Mark Curtis allowed one run on three hits in 4.1 innings out of the pen.
 
SU finished the season with impressive offensive numbers including Kennedy's school single-season record for home runs (19). McMillen's 21 doubles rank second in SU single-season history. The team scored eight or more runs in 18 contests.

Three seniors completed their Raiders careers. Senior Nick Massetti got SU's final two outs of the season from the mound, both on strikeouts. Massetti threw more than 100 innings in 38 career appearances as a Raider.
 
Senior Cody Ezolt, who homered twice on Wednesday, finished his final campaign with 12 round trippers and 46 RBIs. In 131 career games, Ezolt hit 21 homers and had 75 RBIs.
 
Spanos played in his 200th career game Thursday. He totaled 110 RBIs and 230 hits, a tally which includes eight homers, six triples and 45 doubles.