Shippensburg finds confidence in win vs. Chambersburg

Heading into Friday's game, both the Chambersburg and Shippensburg baseball teams were flying high thanks to a pair of late-inning wins the day prior.

But unfortunately for one team, that exhilaration was short-lived.

Friday, Shippensburg used its recent momentum to beat Chambersburg in a non-league game, 8-2, finding new confidence after a relatively inconsistent start to the season.

"It's a little frustrating coming off yesterday's win and we kind of have a letdown today," Chambersburg coach Scott Folmar said. "We just went through the motions, and you can't do that against anybody you play."

Chambersburg starting pitcher Cam Flinn struggled early, walking the first two batters he faced in the second inning. Teagan Staver bunted to load the bases, followed by RBI singles by Colton Zeigler and Cole Friese that put the Greyhounds on the board.

"We were just trying to hit the fastball and put the pressure on them," Staver said. "I think we're starting to get into our groove and playing how we're capable - we're on the right path."

Shippensburg coach Nate Rosenberry said, "We just didn't want to go out and chase anything. You could see that he was struggling, so we wanted to make sure we had a good pitch to hit."

Zach Barnhart started for the Greyhounds (5-4) and pitched 5 2/3 innings and allowed two runs off seven hits to keep Chambersburg (6-6) "off balance," according to Folmar.

"He threw a great game and threw strikes all day long," Folmar said. "We didn't hit the ball hard at all, really. We were trying to stay aggressive early, but he did a nice job."

Shippensburg used strategic hitting throughout the game to pad the score, with three sacrifice hits.

"I think we may have taken them a little too lightly," Chambersburg's Carlin Christian said. "We didn't have a lot of energy in the first five innings, then had a little spark, then it got shut down."

For the Greyhounds, Friese went 2-for-2 with three RBIs.