Game 1 boxscore

Game 2 boxscore

SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. -- The Rock will enter the final weekend of Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference-Western Division competition alone in fourth place after dropping both ends of Saturday's twinbill vs. Indiana U. of Pa. at Jack Critchfield Park.

One day after SRU recorded 11-4 and 19-13 wins in Indiana, the Crimson Hawks turned the tables and won 10-5 and 2-1 decisions Saturday.

The losses dropped SRU's overall record to 21-17 and its PSAC-West mark to 9-7.

Indiana, with the sweep, now owns a 32-15 overall record and a 10-6 mark in division play.

California U. of Pa., despite being swept Saturday by Shippensburg, remains in sole possession of the division lead with an 11-5 PsAC-West mark, while IUP and Shippensburg are both 10-6 in division action.

The top three teams in the division at the end of regular-season play next Saturday, April 26, will advance to the conference tournament April 30-May 3 at Clippery Magazine Stadium in Lancaster.

Wildness by Rock pitchers proved fatal in Game 1 of Saturday's twinbill.

Four Rock hurlers combined to issue seven bases on balls, hit three batters and throw two wild pitches in the game. All three of the hit batsmen came around to score and three of the bases on balls came with the bases loaded.

IUP used four of the walks -- three with the bases loaded -- and two hit batsman to help manufacture nine runs in the top of the fourth inning.

That nightmarish frame turned what was a 3-1 Rock lead into a insurmountable 10-3 deficit.

But it was probably only fitting that IUP won the game on Rock mistakes since Crimson Hawks errors on three successive groundballs to open the top of the first inning led to the first three Rock runs.

Matt Adams, the only Rock player to have more than one hit in the game, lined an RBI single to plate the final first-inning run. He then slapped a leadoff single and came around to score The Rock's fourth run in the bottom of the fourth, immediately after IUP had put up its nine spot in the top of the fourth.

The Rock had nine hits in Game 1, four of which came in the bottom of the fourth but only resulted in one run. The fifth and final Rock run scored on a two-out RBI double by Matt Messer in the bottom of the sixth.

Justin Dickert was tagged with the Game 1 loss after he allowed four runs (three earned) on four hits, struck out one and walked two in three innings.

Craig Misiewicz allowed six runs -- only one of which was earned -- on three hits, struck out one and walked one in two-thirds of an inning before Colin McCoy walked three straight batters with the bases loaded.

Brett Vescovi finally stopped the bleeding as he allowed only two hits, struck out three and walked on in the final three and one-third innings.

In stark contrast to Game 1, Game 2 was a pitching duel between The Rock's Don Pugliese and IUP's Steve Mondschein.

IUP made the most of its first hit off Pugliese as Shayne Busti, the PSAC leader in home runs and RBis, smacked an RBI double to straightaway center to plate the first run of the game in the top of the fourth inning.

A solo home run by Adams, his team-high seventh roundtripper of the season, tied the score at 1-1 in the bottom of the fourth.

IUP then used a single, two sacrifice bunts and a wild pitch to manufacture the eventual winning run in the top of the sixth.

SRU threatened to tie the score in the bottom of the seventh, when Dan Hudeck and Jim Eimiller slapped back-to-back one-out singles and moved to second and third bases on a two-out balk, but Colby Betz, in relief of Mondschein, then induced a game-ending groundout. 

Parsons, with two singles, was the only Rock player to record more than one hit in Game 2, in which The Rock collected six safeties.

Pugliese allowed two earned runs on three hits, struck out four and walked two in five and one-third innings but was tagged with the loss, his second in as many decisions this spring.

Mike DeCola struck out one and walked one in the final one and two-thirds innings.

The Rock returns to action Tuesday, when it will host Shepherd (W. Va.) in a 1 p.m. non-conference doubleheader at Critchfield Park.

That will be the first of three twinbills The Rock will host in the span of four days. Seton Hill comes calling for a 1 p.m. non-conference twinbill Thursday, followed by Clarion for a 4 p.m. PSAC-West twinbill Friday.