Teams that begin hitting their stride as postseason play approaches tend to be the very units that nobody wants to play by the end of a season.

The baseball program at Shawnee State has certainly hit its stride over the past month -- and that fact was proven again Friday evening in a River States Conference series opener against the Rio Grande RedStorm as a six-hitter by Wheelersburg standout Ethan Ison on the bump, effective work by the bullpen, led by former Greenup County letterwinner Carson Wireman, and clutch hitting by Nolan Tressler, Noah Sniadach and Eric Oakes helped lead the Bears to a 5-3 victory over the RedStorm at Bob Evans Field in Rio Grande.

Shawnee State (21-19, 15-7 River States Conference) collected its seventh consecutive victory with the win -- and have won 11 out of its last 15 contests overall since March 22. Friday's victory came by way of Ison, who threw four-and-two-thirds innings in the win. Ison allowed six hits in those four-and-two-thirds innings of work but didn't allow anything beyond a single, with a two-out RBI single by Luke Lindamood in the fifth frame, which scored Darius Jordan, being the lone damage against Ison during the Wheelersburg product's work on the hill.

Following Ison, Wireman retired six consecutive batters in order in his two innings of work while fellow Greenup County alum Brock Kitchen, who threw the final third of the seventh inning, made it seven straight Rio Grande retirees by inducing a groundout to allow SSU to hold its 5-1 lead.

Rio Grande got two runs back on a throwing error in the eighth frame to cut Shawnee State's advantage to a 5-3 count, but James Bodrock, who came in during the ninth and final frame in an attempt to close out the game, did so successfully by forcing Rio Grande into a groundout and a pair of flyouts for a clean ninth inning en route to notching the save.

Sniadach, Tressler, Lund, Oakes keep roll going at plate

Offensively, Shawnee State jumped on Rio Grande early -- as a leadoff single by Nolan Tressler was followed two batters later by a huge RBI triple by Noah Sniadach. The following batter, Eric Oakes, added in an RBI base knock to drive in Sniadach -- and give the Bears a 2-0 lead after an inning of play.

Shawnee State added in two more tallies in the fifth frame -- as a leadoff double by Tyler Lund, a passed ball, and a walk by Ryan Scott opened the door for Tressler, who drove in Lund with his sacrifice fly RBI to left field. Two batters later, Sniadach came through once again as his RBI single drove in Scott to increase Shawnee State's lead to a 4-0 count through four-and-a-half-innings of work.

Rio Grande answered with a run in the bottom of the fifth frame on the aforementioned RBI single by Lindamood that brought in Jordan, but Shawnee State got the run back in the top of the eighth inning after a throwing error allowed the Bears to build its lead back up to a 5-1 cushion through seven-and-a-half innings complete -- and Shawnee State kept the multi-run lead intact from there en route to the win.

Additional

Noah Sniadach (2-for-4, triple, two RBI, run scored), Eric Oakes (1-for-2, RBI, two walks), Nolan Tressler (1-for-3, sac fly, RBI, run scored) and Tyler Lund (1-for-4, double, run scored) all started and reached the hit column for Shawnee State, while Eli Jones (1-for-1, run scored) notched a single in the eighth inning and scored the lone run for the Bears in that frame to help seal matters in SSU's favor.

The Bears will get back at it tomorrow afternoon at Rio Grande in what will be a River States Conference doubleheader held at Bob Evans Field in Rio Grande. Game time for the doubleheader is set for 12 p.m.

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