Click here to view Game 1 boxscore
Click here to view Game 2 boxscore
WASHINGTON, Pa. -- For the second straight day, The Rock and four-time defending Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference-Western Division champion California U. of Pa. battled to a stalemate Sunday.
SRU won Game 1 of Sunday's doubleheader at Consol Energy Park by a 7-6 score in eight innings before California claimed Game 2 by a 3-2 score in the regulation seven innings of play.
With the split, The Rock now owns a 14-11 overall record and a 4-4 mark in PSAC-West action. California is 15-10 overall, 5-3 in division play.
Thus, after two weeks of division play, the conference standings show Indiana (Pa.) and Shippensburg tied for first place with 6-2 PSAC-West marks, followed by California, The Rock, Lock Haven (2-6) and Clarion (1-5).
The Rock meets Lock Haven in a four-game series next weekend, while Shippensburg battles Indiana and California meets Clarion.
Scott Bender smacked a solo home run to lead off the top of the eighth inning and account for the winning run in Game 1.
The game-winning hit was one of two recorded by Bender, who also collected a pair of RBIs in the game.
Matt Messer also had two hits to help pace an eight-hit Rock attack in Game 1, while #M.J. Parsons# collected three RBIs without the benefit of a basehit.
Matt Adams and
Billy Herman one each.
The Rock took a 3-0 lead in the top of the third inning, keyed by RBI singles by Herman and Adams and a run-scoring groundout by Parsons., and added a single run in the fifth on a sacrifice fly by Parsons.
California got on the board with a single tally in the bottom of the fifth before SRU came right back with two runs in the top of the sixth, keyed by an RBI single by Bender and a bases-loaded walk to Parsons, to go up by a 6-1 margin.
A two-run home run by Sam DiMatteo helped propel California to a three-run outburst in the bottom of the sixth that cut The Rock lead to 6-4 before the hosts scored twice in the bottom of the seventh to tie the score and send the game into extra innings.
Bender's roundtripper put The Rock back on top for good in the top of the eighth and
Brett Vescovi, the third and final pitcher used by Rock head coach
Jeff Messer, made it stand up by inducing a flyout and two groundouts in the bottom of the eighth.
Vescovi improved his season record to 2-1 with two scoreless and hitless innings of relief work. He did not record a strikeout nor issue a base on balls.
Justin Dickert was The Rock starting pitcher and allowed four earned runs on five hits, struck out three and did not walk a batter in the first five and one-third frames.
Mike DeCola allowed two unearned runs on one hit, struck out two and walked three in two-thirds of an inning before Vescovi entered the game.
The Rock scored two runs in the top of the first inning of Game 2 and held a 3-1 lead after one and a half innings of play before California scored three unanswered runs to record the win.
Bender had two of The Rock's four hits in Game 2, including an RBI single in the second inning after Adams had lined a one-out single to plate both Rock runs in the first frame.
Adam Jury had a one-out single and came around to score on Bender's basehit in the second.
Bender's one-out single in the fifth proved to be the final hit of the game for SRU.
Don Pugliese was tagged with a loss in his first decision of the season after he allowed four runs (two earned) on six hits with one strikeout and one walk in a six-inning complete-game pitching effort.
The Rock returns to action Tuesday, when it will travel to Seton Hill for a 3 p.m. nine-inning single game.
That will be the first of seven games The Rock is scheduled to play in the next week. Mansfield comes to Jack Critchfield Park for a 1 p.m. twinbill Wednesday before SRU travels to Lock Haven for a 1 p.m. doubleheader Saturday and The Rock and Bald Eagles meet next Sunday in a 1 p.m. doubleheader at "The Jack."
