April 6, 2004

Box Score

Slippery Rock, Pa. - Senior shortstop Nathan Statzer had three hits and junior catcher Brad Wilson added a pair of doubles and The Rock's only RBI in a losing effort as SRU dropped a 12-1 decision to nationally ranked Shippensburg in the first game of Tuesday's Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference-Western Division doubleheader at Jack Critchfield Park.

Shippensburg (29-4, 7-1) won the second game by a 9-6 score to complete the sweep.

The losses dropped The Rock to 20-12 overall and 4-4 in PSAC-West action.

The visiting Red Raiders exploded for seven runs on seven hits in the top of the second inning to take command of the first game.

The Rock got one run back in the bottom of the second on a walk to senior left fielder Ben Marzullo and the first of Wilson's two doubles, but could not generate any other offense.

The Rock had their chances to score, though.

A leadoff single by Statzer and a sacrifice bunt by senior center fielder Matt Kozusko put a runner in scoring position in the bottom of the first inning, but back-to-back swinging strikeouts ended the threat.

Wilson's second double of the game followed a two-out single by Marzullo in the fourth inning and put runners on second and third bases, but the rally ended with a flyout.

The Rock then loaded the bases with no outs in the fifth by virtue of two singles and a Shippensburg error, only to see the rally snuffed out by a swinging strikeout and a double play.

The final Rock scoring opportunity came in the seventh inning, when SRU had the bases loaded with two outs. That rally ended with a ground out.

Junior first baseman Billy Wolfe had a pair of singles for The Rock, which had nine hits in the game.

Shippensburg, after its second-inning outburst, added one run in the third and two tallies in each of the fifth and seventh frames.

Junior right-hander John Katich allowed seven earned runs on seven hits, struck out two and walked one in two innings and was tagged with his first loss in five decisions this spring.

Freshman right-hander Josh Rape allowed five runs (four earned) on 10 hits and struck out one in the final five innings.