April 24, 2007

Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score

West Liberty, W. Va. - M.J. Parsons was 4-for-4 and accounted for six RBIs in Tuesday's first game to lead The Rock to a 13-5, 8-6 doubleheader sweep of hosting West Liberty State in non-conference, NCAA Division II North Atlantic Regional action.

The victories extended SRU's current win streak to six games and improves its season record to 28-12 heading into Friday's Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference-Western Division twinbill vs. Shippensburg.

The Rock, which is tied with California U. of Pa. for second place, trails Shippensburg by one game in the PSAC-West standings heading into the final weekend of divisional play.

The teams will meet at 1 p.m. Friday at Jack Critchfield Park before heading for Fairchild Field in Shippensburg for a 1 p.m. twinbill Saturday.

SRU is then scheduled to close out its regular-season schedule with a 1 p.m. home doubleheader Sunday vs. Salem International.

Parsons had a two-run double in the first inning, singled in the third inning, smacked a three-run home run in the fourth inning and singled home a run in the sixth as the headline act in a 21-hit Rock attack in Game 1.

Dan Hudeck matched Parsons' hits total with a 4-for-5 effort and had one RBI, Matt Adams had three hits and Scott Bender collected two RBIs.

Sean Holliday (4-1) was The Rock's starting and winning pitcher. He alloed two unearned runs on five hits and struck out three in the first five frames.

Mark Tanner allowed three runs (one earned) on two hits and struck out four in the final two innings.

The Rock scored three runs in both the first and third innings to take a 6-0 lead before West Liberty State got on the scoreboard with one run in the bottom of the third.

SRU came right back with its third three-run rally in the top of the fourth to push the lead to 9-1, then answered a lone Hilltopper tally in the fifth with four scores in the top of the sixth to take a 13-2 lead.

West Liberty State scored three times in the bottom of the seventh to set the final margin.

Game 2

The Rock needed five runs in the final four frames to record its Game 2 victory, as West Liberty State held a 6-3 lead after three innings.

Adams was 4-for-4 with foru doubles and two RBIs to lead a 13-hit Rock attack, while Rich Michalek added three hits and one RBI and Hudeck chipped in two hits and one RBI.

Billy Herman smacked a solo home run with one out in the top of the first inning to give SRU a quick 1-0 lead.

Rock starting pitcher Scott Rice pitched only one inning and was touched for four earned runs on four hits.

Tom Turnbull allowed two earned runs on four hits and struck out one in the next two innings before Mike DeCola came in and picked up the win.

DeCola (3-0) allowed one hit, struck out one and walked one in three innings of work, then gave way to Vince Lloyd, who yielded one hit, struck out one and walked one in the final inning to pick up his fourth save of the season.

Polls

The Rock remained in the No. 21 spot in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Division II national poll released Tuesday. SRU is ranked second in this week's NCBWA regional poll behind No. 2 Kutztown (38-3) and received votes in the American Baseball Coaches Association/Collegiate Baseball Newspaper national poll.

Neither the NCBWA nor ABCA/CBN polls have a bearing on the teams that will earn NCAA regional tournament berths. SRU was ranked third in the initial NCAA regional poll released last Thursday.

The top six teams in the final NCAA regional poll will compete in the regional tournament May 17-19 at a site yet to be determined.

SRU needs one win in this weekend's four-game series vs. Shippensburg to earn a second successive berth in the PSAC playoffs, which will be held May 2-5 at Jack Critchfield Park on the SRU campus.