May 19, 2007

Box Score

Kutztown, Pa. - The Rock's bid for a fifth regional championship was stymied Saturday morning when top-seeded Kutztown handed SRU a 7-3 loss in the winners bracket final game.

SRU must now win three straight games to win the regional title and earn a berth in next week's national tournament in Montgomery, Ala.

The Rock (35-16) takes on either Shippensburg or West Chester in the losers bracket final at 4:30 p.m. Saturday with the winner of that game advancing to Sunday's noon regional-final game vs. Kutztown.

The winner of Saturday's 4:30 p.m. game will have to beat Kutztown twice on Sunday to wrestle the regional championship trophy from the Golden Bears' paws.

The Rock collected eight hits Saturday morning off Kutztown ace Mike McCardell, but also struck out 13 times and did not get a base on balls against the hard-throwing right-hander.

Kutztown never trailed in the game as the Golden Bears held a 3-0 lead before a solo home run by Billy Messer leading off the bottom of the third inning got SRU on the scoreboard.

Single tallies by Kutztown in the fourth and fifth innings extended the margin to 5-1 before The Rock made a short-lived comeback effort.

Singles by Rich Michalek, Phil Butch and Billy Herman, a wild pitch and a run-scoring ground out by Matt Adams plated two Rock runs in the bottom of the fifth to trim the deficit to two, 5-3.

Kutztown came right back to score two runs in the top of the sixth to set the final score.

Adams, who had three hits and four RBIs in The Rock's 6-5, 11-inning win over West Chester on Friday, had a pair of singles Saturday morning. He was the only Rock player to record more than one hit in the game.

Messer's home run was the only extra-base hit of the game for SRU.

Rock head coach Jeff Messer (Billy's father) used four pitchers in the game.

Starting and losing pitcher Chris Squeglia (2-7) allowed three earned runs on six hits, struck out three and walked two in the first three innings.

Josh Rape relieved Squeglia in the top of the fourth inning and allowed four runs (three earned) on five hits and walked one in the next three and two-thirds innings.

Sean Holliday allowed two hits and walked one in two innings of work before Tom Turnbull pitched the final two-thirds of an inning.