PSAC Baseball Championships web site

Boxscore: Bloomsburg 11, The Rock 6

JOHNSTOWN, Pa. – Senior center fielder Matt Howard was 4-for-5 with a double, two runs scored and one RBI in a losing cause Wednesday as Slippery Rock University dropped an 11-6 decision to Bloomsburg University in first-round action of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Baseball Championships at Point Stadium.

With the loss, The Rock (27-18) fell into a 12:30 p.m. elimination game Thursday vs. eighth-ranked Millersville University (37-9).

A win over Millersville would greatly enhance The Rock's chances of earning a berth in the NCAA regional tournament, while a loss Thursday would pretty much kill any Rock hope of extended postseason life.

Millersville was ranked first in the NCAA Division II Atlantic Regional poll released Wednesday, while SRU was fourth. The top six teams in the final poll Sunday will earn regional tournament berths.

Indiana U. of Pa. (20-27), which upset Millersville, 6-5, in the fourth and final game on Wednesday's opening-day schedule, will meet Bloomsburg (22-19) in a winners bracket game at 6:30 p.m. Thursday.

In other first-round action Wednesday, California sank Shippensburg by a 13-6 score and Mercyhurst, after leading 5-1 heading into the bottom of the ninth inning, had to work overtime to beat East Stroudsburg, 6-5, in 11 innings.

Shippensburg (22-21) and East Stroudsburg (25-17) will meet at 9:30 a.m. Thursday. The loser of the game earns the dubious distinction of being the first team eliminated from the eight-team conference tournament. The Rock-Millersville loser will be the second team to exit the tournament.

California (30-16) and Mercyhurst (36-10) meet at 3:30 p.m. in a winners bracket game.

The tournament continues through Saturday. The conference champion earns an automatic berth in the regional tournament May 19-23 at a site yet to be determined.

The Rock played catch-up from the very start in their game Wednesday as Bloomsburg scored five runs on four hits, keyed by a two-run double by Vince Smarrelli and a three-run home run by Jarrod Kramer, in the top of the first inning.

Undaunted, SRU answered the Huskies' outburst with a four-run rally of its own in the bottom of the first inning.

Howard singled home the first Rock run before sophomore third baseman Jamison Walck slapped a a two-run single and senior designated hitter Mitchell Monas smacked an RBI triple.

Bloomsburg extended its lead to 6-4 with a run on two hits in the top of the third inning and made it an 8-4 score with two runs on four hits in the top of the fourth.

The fourth-inning eruption brought an end to Rock starting and losing pitcher Zach Jeney's day. Jeney allowed eight runs (five runs) on eight hits, struck out four and walked three in three-plus innings and saw his season record drop to 6-3.

Senior right-hander George Hebert pitched the final six innings and yielded three earned runs on six hits, struck out seven and walked one.

The Rock had a chance to get back in the game in the bottom of the fifth when junior left fielder Carter Haponski and Howard slapped back-to-back singles and senior first baseman Derek DiRuscia walked to load the bases with no outs. But the next two batters, senior shortstop Adam Jury (infield popup) and Walck (double-play groundout) were retired in order to leave the runners stranded.

SRU got one run back in the sixth on junior second baseman Lee Foxton's RBI single and added its final tally in the bottom of the ninth on a double by Howard and a pinch-hit RBI single by junior Matt Kosik, but was not able to overcome the blown opportunity in the fifth frame.

Sandwiched between those two Rock runs was a three-run Bloomsburg rally in the top of the seventh that had pushed the margin to 11-5.

Kramer was a major thorn in the side of The Rock as he finished the game with three hits and five RBIs.

Foxton, Haponski and Monas each had a pair of hits to join Howard as the only Rock players to collect more than one hit in the game.

As a team, The Rock outhit Bloomsburg 15-14.

Wednesday's loss was the third straight suffered by The Rock and their fifth in the last seven games,