April 9, 2005

Slippery Rock, Pa. - The Rock, which began the week ranked sixth in one national poll and seventh in the other, has now lost three straight games and five of its last six after being swept by 4-3 and 2-1 scores by Clarion in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference-Western Division action Saturday afternoon at Jack Critchfield Park.

The Rock now has a 22-7 overall record and is in third place in the six-team PSAC-West with a 5-3 conference mark.

Clarion improved to 16-11-1 overall and took over second place in the PSAC-West standings with a 6-2 conference record.

California (20-9 overall) leads the PSAC-West with an 8-0 record, followed by Clarion, The Rock, Shippensburg (17-19) at 3-5, Lock Haven (12-14) at 2-6 and Indiana (7-13) at 0-8.

SRU will look to end its skid on Tuesday when it visits Pitt-Johnstown for a 1 p.m. non-conference doubleheader.

The Rock takes on Shippensburg in a four-game PSAC-West series next Friday (at Critchfield Park) and Saturday (in Shippensburg).

Matt Messer was 2-for-2 with a pair of RBI singles and Chase Rowe was 2-for-3 with an RBI double to highlight an eight-hit Rock attack in Saturday's first game.

Todd Schickling was 2-for-2, Matt Kozusko had the lone Rock RBI with a third-inning ground out and Phil Butch slapped a double to lead a five-hit SRU attack in the second game.

Nick Armstrong suffered the first-game loss after he allowed three earned runs on 10 hits, struck out four and walked two in a complete-game pitching effort. Armstrong is now 2-2 on the year.

Troy Wilson was a hard-luck loser in the second game. He struck out 10 -- the most recorded by a Rock pitcher this spring -- and allowed two unearned runs on seven hits and two bases on balls before being tagged with his first loss in four decisions.