April 24, 2004

Slippery Rock, Pa. - Visiting Indiana U. of Pa. handed The Rock 2-1 and 7-3 setbacks on Saturday in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference-Western Division finale at Jack Critchfield Park.

The losses dropped The Rock's overall record to 29-21 and gave it an 11-9 conference mark. SRU finished third behind Shippensburg (41-8, 17-3) and California U. of Pa. (28-20-1, 14-6) in the six-team Western Division.

Indiana improved to 14-18 overall and 9-11 in conference play.

Senior catcher/DH Joe Pascarella's two-out single in the bottom of the fourth inning plated the only Rock run in Saturday's first game. Pascarella's hit brought home senior right fielder Jason Curry, who had reached base on a one-out double.

Junior right-hander John Katich pitched a complete game, but was tagged with his third loss in eight decisions this spring. Katich allowed two earned runs on six hits, struck out 10 and walked one.

The Rock took a quick 2-0 lead with a pair of runs in the bottom of the first inning of Saturday's second game, but managed only one more run in its final six at bats.

Senior shortstop Nathan Statzer started The Rock's first-inning rally with a leadoff double to straightaway center field and came around to score the first run on the game on back-to-back ground outs by senior third baseman Chase Rowe and junior center fielder Matt Kozusko.

Pascarella then received a two-out walk, moved to second on a wild pitch and scored on an RBI single by senior left fielder Ben Marzullo.

The third and final Rock run was manufactured from a leadoff single by Statzer, who stole second and moved to third on a throwing error, and a run-scoring ground out by Rowe in the third inning.

Statzer and Pascarella had a pair of hits each to lead a six-hit Rock attack.

The Rock's single run in the bottom of the third inning knotted the score at 3-3. Indiana took the lead for good with a run in the top of the fourth and iced the win with three runs in the seventh.

Redshirt freshman right-hander Derek Blyzwick was the losing pitcher. He allowed six runs (three earned) on 10 hits, struck out five and walked one in six and one-third innings.

Junior right-hander Nick Armstrong allowed one earned run on one hit and walked two in the final two-thirds of an inning.

The Rock will close out its 2004 schedule with single games Monday and Tuesday against backyard rivals Westminster and Grove City, respectively. Both games are set to start at 7 p.m.