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April 26, 2008 Game 1 Boxscore Game 2 Boxscore IUP clinched a berth in the PSAC playoffs for the first time since 1998 and broke an 18-year school record for most wins in a season by sweeping California at CONSOL Energy Park in Washington, Pa. The Crimson Hawks won by scores of 9-3 and 5-1 to finish second in the PSAC West and earn a trip to Lancaster for the conference playoffs. IUP will learn its first round opponent and game time following the Mansfield-Bloomsburg doubleheader on Sunday. By sweeping the Vulcans, IUP finished the regular season with a record of 13-7 in the PSAC West (36-17 overall) and finished one game behind Shippensburg, which won the division with a sweep of Lock Haven. California and Slippery Rock finished in a tie for third at 12-8, but The Rock earned the final playoff spot out of the West on the strength of a split with IUP while the Vulcans dropped three of four to the Crimson Hawks. The 36 wins are one more than the 1990 squad posted in a 35-10 season that saw IUP win its fifth and most recent PSAC championship. In the second game, Steve Mondschein pitched IUP to the playoff clinching victory, allowing only seven hits and striking out five in a complete game effort. He saw his bid for a shutout end with a solo homer by Robert Hedrick in the sixth and then gave up a single to Adam Links before retiring the final five Vulcans. Mondschein (5-2) faced the minimum nine batters through the first three innings and got help from his infield with double plays in the third and fifth. IUP scored all five of its runs in the first two innings. Kyle Stryker had a two-run double and T.J. Nichols singled in Stryker to stake the Crimson Hawks to a 3-0 lead in the first. Paul Bingham then drove in two with a second inning triple that provided Mondschein with more than enough offensive support. IUP led 2-0 after 1 1/2 innings of the first game before the teams sat through a two-hour rain delay. When play resumed, the Vulcans tied it on a two-run double by Aaron Ordy off starter Chris Twigg. Corey Betz replaced Twigg and shut down California over the next 5 2/3 innings. IUP retook the lead in the third on a two-run homer by Stryker and added on in each of the next four innings. Jamie Smith doubled and scored on a single by Bingham, and Shane Melhorn scored on an error in a two-run fourth that made it 6-2. Nichols, who went 3-for-4 in the game and had four hits in the twinbill, hit a solo homer in the fifth. Smith singled and went all the way to third on one of six California errors before coming across on another Bingham single in the sixth, and Shawn Schwarz doubled and scored on a wild pitch in the seventh. Bingham also had an RBI ground out in the first and drove in three runs in the game. Betz (3-1) shut out the Vulcans until surrendering three singles and a run in the seventh. |
