Game 1 boxscore

Game 2 boxscore

SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. -- Tuesday's non-conference twinbill vs. Shepherd at Jack Critchfield Park began and ended on bad notes as The Rock dropped both games, 4-3 and 7-5.

In the process, The Rock saw its overall record fall to 21-19 and its hopes for a berth in the NCAA Division II North Atlantic Regional tournament all but extinguished.

Shepherd (28-19) scored two runs in the top of the first inning of Game 1 without even hitting the ball out of the infield.

Rock starting pitcher Vince Lloyd hit the first two batters to face him -- on only two pitches -- and then committed a balk to move the runners to second and third bases. Back-to-back groundouts then plated the two runners to give the Rams a quick 2-0 lead.

SRU erased that deficit with three runs in the bottom of the fourth inning, keyed by an RBI triple by Matt Messer, an RBI single by Rich Michalek and a run-scoring double by Scott Bender.

Shepherd tied the game with a run in the top of the fifth and then scored the winning run in the sixth on a leadoff triple and a balk by Rock reliever and losing pitcher Justin Thomas.

Thomas was tagged with the loss, his first against one loss this spring, after he allowed one earned run on two hits and struck out four in the final two and one-third innings. In addition to the balk, he threw a wild pitch.

Lloyd allowed three earned runs on three hits, struck out five, walked three, hit three batters and committed a balk in four and two-thirds innings of action.

The Rock had seven hits in Game 1, three of which came off the bat of Bender.

Game 2 started off on a good note for SRU, as the Green and White took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning on the strength of a leadoff double by Michalek and a one-out RBI single by Matt Adams.

The Rock expanded its lead to 4-0 with three tallies on five hits in the second inning. Jim Eimiller led off with a single and scored on Dan Hudeck's RBI double, Hudeck trotted home on a one-out triple by Jacob Oswalt and Oswalt scored on an infield single by Bender.

Shepherd trimmed the margin to 4-1 with a run in the top of the third before The Rock scored its final run of the game in the bottom of the third to take a 5-1 lead.

Hudeck singled with two outs, moved to second on a ground out by Kyle Smith, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on an RBI single by Oswalt.

That proved to be the extent of any Rock scoring.

En route to the 5-1 lead, The Rock collected 10 hits in the first three innings. But in the final four frames, The Rock was held scoreless and managed only five hits.

Shepherd, meanwhile, recorded nine hits in the final four frames. The Rams got three of those hits in the top of the sixth as part of a four-run rally that tied the score at 5-5 and added three more hits in the seventh, when the guests scored the final two runs of the game.

Oswalt led The Rock attack with three hits and two RBIs, while five other players each had a pair of hits.

Mike DeCola was tagged with the loss, his first in two decisions this spring, after he allowed two earned runs on three hits, struck out two and walked one in the final inning.

Rock starting pitcher Sean Holliday allowed four runs (two earned) on five hits, struck out two, walked two and threw two wild pitches in five and two-thirds innings before Craig Misiewicz allowed an uneared run on two hits in one-third of an inning.

The Rock returns to action at 3 p.m. Thursday, when it will host Seton Hill in a non-conference doubleheader.

SRU then closes out its 2008 regular-season schedule with a four-game Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference-Western Division series vs. Clarion. The first two games of the series are scheduled to start at 4 p.m. Friday with the final two games set for 1 p.m. Saturday in Clarion.

The Rock enters the weekend series in fourth place in the PSAC-West standings, two games behind four-time defending division champion California U. of Pa. and one game behind both Indiana (Pa.) and Shippensburg.

The top three teams in the division at the end of regular-season play will earn berths in the PSAC playoffs, which will be held April 30-May 3 at Clipper Magazine Stadium in Lancaster.