(Game 1 Box) (Game 2 Box) 

           PLYMOUTH, N.H. - Senior Jim VanGyzen (Glocester, R.I.) and sophomore Bryant Lausberg (Somersworth, N.H.) combined for eight hits and nine runs batted in Thursday afternoon, with each hitting a home run, as Plymouth State University swept a non-conference baseball doubleheader from Castleton State College, 7-6 and 9-3, at Panther Park.

           VanGyzen went 2-for-3 with two RBI in the opener and came back with two hits and four RBI in the nightcap, including a two-run double in the first inning and a two-run homer in the third inning, his second of the season.  Lausberg was 1-for-3 with a walk and a run scored in the opener and 3-for-4 in the nightcap with a pair of singles and a three-run homer in the fourth inning, also his second of the year.

           The outcome helped PSU stop a three-game losing streak and improve to 7-12 overall, while Castleton, playing its first games in a week, slipped to 7-10.

           PSU scored all seven runs in the opener in the first three innings.  Castleton plated five of its six runs in the same innings and added a run in the seventh, but senior Taylor Ketchum (Fairhaven, Mass.) retired the Spartans with the tying run at second base.  Ketchum picked up the complete-game victory to improve to 3-1, allowing seven hits and six runs while striking out six.

           Freshmen Mike Cappiello (Westfield, N.J.) and Joe Eramo (Shirley, Mass.) each collected two hits for PSU in the opener, with each hitting a double and Eramo driving in two.  Sophomore Grant Livingston (Niantic, Conn.) also knocked in two runs.

           Junior Aaron Zrenda (East Lyme, Conn.) drove in four runs in the first game for Castleton, one with an RBI single in the first inning and three with a towering homer to right center in the third.

           PSU broke open a 2-2 game in the nightcap with two runs in the third inning and three more in the fourth.  VanGyzen and Lausberg did much of the damage, and sophomores Dan Eagan (Norwich, Conn.) and Ben DiZoglio (Hudson, N.H.) and freshman Marcus Joyce (Scituate, R.I.) added two hits each.  Junior Garrett Brewer (Rutland, Vt.) added a two-run double for a pair of insurance runs in the sixth.

           All of Castleton's runs in the nightcap came via the home run.  Sophomore Mitch Thresher (Northfield, Vt.) cracked his first of the year with a man on in the second inning, and junior Matt Eisenhuth (South Newfane, Vt.) hit his first, a solo job, in the sixth.

           Freshman Joe Hudson (Greenfield, Mass.) registered his first career victory (1-1) for PSU, allowing three runs on six hits and no walk, fanning five.

           PSU returns to Little East Conference action in its next three games, visiting rival Keene State College for a single game on Friday (3:30 p.m.) and UMass Boston for a doubleheader on Saturday (12 noon).  Castleton returns home to host Lyndon State in a North Atlantic Conference doubleheader on Friday (2:00 p.m.)

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