April 30, 2005

Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score

Slippery Rock, Pa. - The Rock claimed a share of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference-Western Division title Saturday, but will be the odd team out in the quest for a berth in the conference playoffs.

The Rock, as a result of Saturday's doubleheader split vs. Lock Haven (2-1 win in eight innings, 8-4 loss) at Jack Critchfield Park, finished the regular-season with a 31-13 overall record and a 12-8 PSAC-West mark.

The latter record matched the marks achieved by three other PSAC-West teams -- California, Clarion and Shippensburg -- to give SRU a share of the division title.

The title is the 15th won or shared by The Rock in head coach Jeff Messer's 20 seasons at the helm.

But The Rock lost out in the tiebreaker competition to determine the division's three representatives to this year's PSAC playoffs (May 9-11 in Boalsburg).

California, Clarion and Shippensburg earned the playoff berths by virtue of having better combined records in head-to-head competition against the other three teams tied for the PSAC-West title.

The Rock is still alive, and will now be forced to wait anxiously, for the May 16 announcement of the four-team field for the NCAA Division II North Atlantic Regional tournament.

SRU was ranked fourth in the regional poll released last Wednesday. The only teams that will participate in the PSAC playoffs that were ranked ahead of The Rock were No. 2 West Chester and No. 3 Kutztown.

California was ranked fifth and Mansfield seventh in last week's regional poll. Clarion and Shippensburg were not ranked in the regional poll, which included eight teams.

Saturday's games

Matt Kozusko's walkoff solo home run with one out in the bottom of the eighth inning accounted for the winning margin in the first game.

Kozusko also played an important role in the scoring of The Rock's first run of the game.

J.D. Lowry beat out an infield single to lead off The Rock's sixth inning and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Phil Butch before Kozusko reached on a fielding error.

A few pitches later, Kozusko got involved in a run-down between first and second bases while executing a delayed steal of second base. The run-down lasted long enough to allow Lowry to score the first run of the game.

Lock Haven scored a run in the top of the seventh to tie the score and ultimately force the extension of the scheduled seven-inning contest.

The Rock had only five hits in the first game.

Nick Armstrong (5-4) was the winning pitcher in relief of Rock starter Troy Wilson.

Unfortunately, Armstrong could not duplicate the effort in the second game. He got a no-decision in relief of starter Colin Scott, who was tagged with only his second loss in seven decisions this spring.

The Rock, after spotting LHU a run in the top of the first inning, got four hits and scored three runs in the bottom of the first and added a run on two hits in the second frame to take a 4-1 lead.

SRU scored its first-inning runs on back-to-back-back doubles into the left-center field gap by Phil Butch, Kozusko and Chase Rowe, a fly out by Brad Wilson and a run-scoring ground out by Chris Tolliver. Todd Schickling later tripled but was stranded at third base.

Butch led off The Rock second with a triple to right-center and scored on a single by Kozusko.

But that would be the extent of The Rock's run production. SRU got six hits in the final five innings, but failed to score another run.

Lock Haven took the lead for good with a five-run outburst in the top of the third off Scott and added two insurance tallies in the fifth off Armstrong.

Butch, Kozusko, Matt Messer, Rowe and Schickling all had a pair of hits for The Rock to lead a 12-hit attack in Saturday's second game.

Kozusko had two RBIs, while Rowe and Tolliver picked up one each.

Senior Day

Eight seniors on The Rock team were honored between games. The list of honorees included Armstrong, pitchers Jeremy Becker and Rocky D'Angelo, Kozusko, first baseman/DH Aaron Levonick, student coach Joe Petti, Rowe and DH/first baseman Billy Wolfe.