Hungerford spins six-hit shutout as Gettysburg downs Dickinson

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GETTYSBURG, Pa. – Senior Eric Hungerford fired a six-hit shutout through the raindrops, leading the Gettysburg College baseball team to a 3-0 Centennial Conference (CC) victory over Dickinson College Tuesday afternoon at Kirchhoff Field.

Pitching through a light rain throughout most of the afternoon, Hungerford (3-1) racked up a career-high 11 strikeouts and was backed by an errorless defensive performance, including a huge play from junior third baseman Henry Klimowicz to end the eighth. With the Bullets leading 1-0 with two outs and a runner on second, Klimowicz leaped high in the air to snag a line drive off the bat of Matt Primavera and save a run.

Sophomore Connor Tom finished 2-for-5 with two doubles for the Bullets (13-8, 2-3 CC), giving him six two-baggers over the last four games, while junior Shawn Moffitt went 2-for-4 with a pair of big RBI-singles. Senior Scott Zanghellini contributed by going 2-for-4 with a double while sophomore Will Anderson singled to stretch his hitting streak to 10.

Ryan Dolan went 3-for-3 with a double, a triple, and two stolen bases for Dickinson (10-11-1, 4-2-1 CC).

Hungerford's shutout was the fifth of his career, which places him in a tie with Ryan Taylor '13 for third in school history. He also collected his 22nd career victory to move into sole possession of second all-time at Gettysburg, and he passed Brian Spicer to move into fifth in school history in career strikeouts, pushing his current total to 183.

Dolan led off the game with a double down the rightfield line before being sacrificed to third. But Hungerford quelled the early threat with a pair of strikeouts.

Gettysburg supplied Hungerford with all the offense he would need with a run in the second against Dickinson starter Matt Cowell (0-1). Senior Mike Kielbasa sparked the inning, beating out an infield single on what appeared off the bat to be a routine ground ball to second. Anderson followed up with an infield single into the left side before the pair were balked to second and third. Moffitt followed up with a well-struck ball into left, bringing home Kielbasa.

In the meantime, Hungerford was perfect against hitters not named Dolan through the first 5 1/3 innings. He retired eight straight after Dolan's leadoff double, then set down eight in a row again after Dolan singled in the third. Dolan followed up with a one-out triple in the sixth, and the Red Devils had runners on the corners after Robbie Thompson drew a walk. But Dolan was picked off third on a failed suicide squeeze, and Hungerford got out of the inning with a strikeout.

Dickinson put a runner into scoring position in both the seventh and eighth but were unable to capitalize. The Devils stroked back-to-back one-out singles in the seventh, but Hungerford escaped with a strikeout and a grounder back to himself. Dolan then drew a one-out walk in the eighth before stealing second, but Hungerford induced a flyout before Klimowicz's web gem.

After Cowell tossed six shutout innings from the third through the seventh, the Bullets added a pair of insurance runs in the eighth, which was aided by three errors. Senior Cory Karagjozi led off with a single before Kielbasa and Anderson both reached to load the bases when their sacrifice bunts were muffed. Moffitt then greeted reliever Christian Acosta with an RBI-single to left, and another run would score on the final error of the inning.

Hungerford ended the game with another groundout to himself after the Red Devils singled with two outs.

Gettysburg and Dickinson conclude their season series on Friday, when the Bullets visit the Devils at 3:30 p.m. for another single nine-inning game.