Game 1 boxscore
Game 2 boxscore
FORT PIERCE, Fla. -- Junior catcher-first baseman Matt Adams collected five hits and four RBIs Monday to lead the Slippery Rock University baseball team to a doubleheader split vs. NCAA Division II Atlantic Regional rival East Stroudsburg at the Bob Gladwin Baseball Complex.
Adams, who was named earlier in the day as the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference-Western Division "Player of the Week," had two hits and one RBI in Game 1, which East Stroudsburg won by a 10-7 score.
In Game 2, Adams (pictured above) was 3-for-4 with a double and three RBIs as The Rock rang up a 5-2 victory.
With his 5-for-8 day Monday, Adams is now batting .562 (18 of 32) this spring and has collected 18 RBIs in eight games.
Monday's split gave the Green and White a 6-2 record as they head into a day off Wednesday, followed by a 4 p.m. doubleheader Wednesday vs. regional power West Chester.
The Rock's spring-break trip runs through Saturday and will include a total of 11 games, nine of which will be against regional rivals.
East Stroudsburg owned an 8-4 record after Monday's action.
Game 2
Adams singled home the second of two Rock runs in the top of the first inning of Game 2 and pushed across two more tallies with a fourth-inning double. He also had a single in the sixth to set the stage for The Rock's final run.
Senior center fielder Rich Michalek, the leadoff hitter in The Rock lineup, was Adams' co-star as he "set the table" in each of the three frames in which The Rock scored.
Michalek led off the game with a walk, stole second base, moved to third on a wild pitch and scored the first Rock run on an RBI double by senior third baseman Billy Herman. Herman then sprinted home with Run #2 on Adams' RBI single.
In the top of the fourth, Michalek received a two-out walk, went to second base on a wild pitch and scored along with Herman, who was hit by a pitch, on Adams' two-run double.
Michalek completed his day's work by reaching base on a one-out error in the top of the sixth, moved up on base on Adams' two-out single and scored on an RBI basehit by senior designated hitter Scott Bender.
The Rock finished the game with only six hits, but that was more than enough support for junior right-handed hurler Vince Lloyd.
Lloyd struck out 10 batters en route to recording The Rock's first complete-game pitching effort of the season. He allowed two runs (one earned) on only four hits and walked one, but also hit five batters.
East Stroudsburg got single runs in both the first and fourth frames, immediately after The Rock had put a two-spot on the scoreboard in the top of those innings.
Game 1
Sophomore designated hitter Adam Jury had two RBI singles to lead a 10-hit Rock attack in Game 1. Junior second baseman Billy Messer also collected a pair of RBIs, one of which came on a triple, while Adams (RBI) and Michalek both had a pair of hits. Senior shortstop Kyle Smith had an RBI double and sophomore first baseman Derek Diruscia received a bases-loaded walk to round out the run producers.
The Rock jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning, keyed by back-to-back singles by Michalek and Herman, a sacrifice fly by Messer and Diruscia's bases-loaded walk.
East Stroudsburg got one run back in the top of the second before SRU manufactured its third run from a walk to junior left fielder Jacob Oswalt, a sacrifice bunt by Michalek, a ground out by Herman and an RBI single by Adams.
The score remained 3-1 until the top of the fifth, when Mike Bortz smacked a three-run home run to put East Stroudsburg up by one, 4-3.
SRU came right back with two runs in the bottom of the fifth, though, to regain the lead at 5-4. Adams led off the inning with a single and came around to score on a triple by Messer, who then trotted home on Jury's first RBI single.
That would prove to be the last Rock lead as East Stroudsburg scored three times in the sixth and three in the seventh to take a 10-5 lead into the final half inning.
A leadoff triple by Bender, Jury's second RBI single of the game and Smith's RBI double produced two Rock runs in the bottom of the seventh, but it was too little and too late.
Sophomore southpaw Brett Vescovi was tagged with the loss. He gave three earned runs on two hits and did not retire a batter in the sixth inning in relief of starter Rich Hocanson.
Hocanson yielded four earned runs on seven hits, struck out four and walked two in the first five innings. Sophomore right-hander Justin Thomas pitched the final two frames and allowed three runs (two earned) on four hits and struck out two.
