March 4, 2005

Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score

Fort Myers, Fla. - Rock head coach Jeff Messer recorded his 599th and 600th career victories Friday when SRU swept a season-opening doubleheader from Stonehill College (Mass.) at Terry Park.

Messer, the winningest active NCAA Division II coach in Pennsylvania, now owns a 600-339-4 record in 20 seasons at The Rock.

Rocky D'Angelo pitched a four-hit, seven-inning complete game in The Rock's 2-1 victory in Friday's first game.

Brad Wilson was 3-for-4 with a double and one RBI and Chase Rowe was 2-for-4 with a double and a three-run home run to pace The Rock's 12-2 winning effort in the second game.

Colin Scott struck out eight and scattered three hits in six innings to pick up the win in the second game.

Game 1:

Chris Tolliver plated The Rock's first run in the opening game with an opposite-side ground out in the bottom of the fourth inning before Phil Butch's RBI single in the fifth accounted for the winning tally.

Rowe led off The Rock fourth with a base on balls, moved to second on a Stonehill throwing error, advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt by Wilson before scoring on Tolliver's ground out.

Dave Gonos doubled to open The Rock fifth and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by J.D. Lowry before Butch's single brought him home.

The Rock had only five hits in the first game, but three of the hits were doubles -- one each by Gonos, Wilson and Rowe.

Stonehill cut the margin in half with a run in the top of the sixth inning before D'Angelo shut the door on the comeback effort.

Game 2:

Stonehill took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first before The Rock scored nine unanswered runs to assume firm control of the second game.

Aaron Levonick's RBI single in the top of the second inning plated Wilson, who had smacked a one-out double into the left field corner, and tied the score at 1-1.

SRU then exploded for eight runs on eight hits in the top of the third inning. Todd Schickling had a two-run double, Matt Messer singled home two runs and Butch, Gonos and Wilson each had an RBI single. A bases-loaded walk by Billy Wolfe plated the final run in the frame.

Stonehill got its second and final run in the bottom of the third to trim the margin to seven, 9-2, before Rowe slammed a towering three-run home run to right field in the top of the sixth inning to finalize the scoring.

Wilson and Matt Kozusko paced a 14-hit Rock attack with three hits each, while Rowe had two hits and three RBIs and Messer and Schickling picked up two RBIs each.

The Rock returns to action on Saturday with a 4 p.m. doubleheader vs. the University of Charleston (W. Va.).