Click here to view Game 1 boxscore
Click here to view Game 2 boxscore
SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. -- Senior right-hander Chris Squeglia and sophomore southpaw Rich Hocanso pitched back-to-back complete-game three-hitters Saturday to lead The Rock to a 3-1, 6-0 sweep of hosting Shippensburg in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference-Western Division action.
The first game went one extra frame before SRU scored a pair of runs in the top of the eighth inning to win the game.
The sweep extends the Green and White's current win streak to seven games and gives SRU a 12-5 record heading into Sunday's 1 p.m. twinbill vs. Shippensburg at Jack Critchfield Park.
Shippensburg, the defending PSAC champion, had won four straight games prior to Saturday's action and will bring a 16-13 overall record into Sunday's action.
Game 1
The Rock scored what proved to be the winning run on an RBI double to left field by junior right fielder Scott Bender with no outs in the top of the eighth. The hit, Bender's third of the game, plated junior shortstop Rich Michalek, who had opened the inning with a single to left.
Bender then moved to third on a flyout by junior third baseman Billy Herman before he trotted home with an insurance run on a sacrifice fly to left by senior center fielder #M.J. Parsons#.
Squeglia retired the Red Raiders in order in the bottom of the eighth on flyout, a ground out and a swinging strikeout to lock up the win.
The game-ending strikeout was the eighth recorded by Squeglia (2-2), who allowed an earned run on two hits in the bottom of the first inning but yielded only one hit (a leadoff single in the seventh) in the final seven frames. The only other baserunners to reach base for the Red Raiders came via a hit batsman in the third inning and an intentional walk in the seventh.
Shippensburg's 1-0 after one inning was shortlived as the first Rock batter in the top of the second, sophomore All-America catcher Matt Adams, smacked a solo home run to tie the score at 1-1.
The roundtripper was Adams' second of the season and second in as many games played. He clobbered a three-run shot last Tuesday in SRU's 9-5 win over Gannon at Jack Critchfield Park.
Bender was the only Rock player to have more than one hit in Game 1; The Rock had seven hits off Red Raiders ace Matt Wright (3-2).
Game 2
Adams and Parsons each collected three hits and Herman added two in a 12-hit Rock offensive attack in the second game.
Parsons picked up three RBIs in the game, senior first baseman Dan Hudeck collected two and Adams had one.
Adams, Herman and Parsons each had a double to account for the only extra-base hits of the game.
The outcome was never in doubt as The Rock erupted for four runs on six hits in the top of the first inning and Hocanson did not allow a hit until the fourth inning.
Hudeck lined a two-run single up the middle and Adams and Parsons each added an RBI single in the first-inning explosion.
SRU added a run in the top of the second on a double by Herman and an RBI single by Parsons and got the final run of the game in the fourth off back-to-back doubles by Adams and Parsons.
Hocanson struck out five and walked two en route to his third win in as many decisions and second complete game this spring.
The Rock got five earned runs on eight hits in one and two-thirds innings vs. Shippensburg starter and loser Thomas Ashman (2-2).
Notes:
The Rock-Shippensburg series on the opening weekend of PSAC-West competition figures to be very significant in the final division standings. A preseason poll of the division's head coaches picked SRU to finish second and Shippensburg third behind two-time defending PSAC-West champion California.
Other PSAC-West action this weekend has California taking on Lock Haven and Indiana dueling with Clarion.
California swept a twinbill from Lock Haven in the only PSAC-West games played Friday. The teams split a twinbill Saturday.
Indiana swept a doubleheader Saturday from Clarion and currently stands tied with The Rock for first place in the PSAC-West standings. IUP and Clarion will close out their four-game series Sunday with a twinbill in Indiana.
After hosting Shippensburg Sunday, The Rock will turn its attention to a Wednesday non-conference doubleheader at perennial NCAA Division II national power Ashland (Ohio).
