Game 1 boxscore
Game 2 boxscore
ERIE, Pa. -- The Slippery Rock University baseball team completed a four-game sweep of Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference-Western Division rival Gannon University by taking Saturday's twinbill by 5-4 and 7-4 scores in Erie.
The wins extended SRU's current win streak to five games and improved the Green and White's season records to 15-7 overall, 5-3 in PSAC-West action.
With the losses, Mercyhurst has now lost 15 straight games and owns a 2-19 overall mark and an 0-8 division mark.
The Rock returns to action at 1 p.m. Sunday, when it will take on NCAA Division II Atlantic Regional rival
Bluefield State in non-conference action at Jack Critchfield Park.
Junior second baseman Billy Messer (pictured above) led The Rock offensive attack Saturday with four hits and one RBI. Senior right fielder Scott Bender collected three RBIs, while senior third baseman Billy Herman and senior shortstop Rich Michalek each had three hits and one RBI.
Herman and Bender each smacked a solo home run, in Games 1 and 2, respectively. Adams, Herman, Michalek, sophomore shortstop Adam Jury and junior left fielder Jacob Oswalt each had a double during the day's action.
SRU collected eight hits in each game, while Gannon had five hits in Game 1 and six in Game 2.
The Rock got complete-game pitching efforts from sophomore right-hander George Hebert and junior righty Vince Lloyd.
Hebert allowed three earned runs on five hits, struck out four, walked three and hit three batters in the first game. Lloyd fanned 10, hit three batters and allowed two earned runs on six hits in Game 2.
Neither of Saturday's wins was secured until the final out was recorded.
SRU held 1-0, 2-1, 3-2 and 5-2 leads in Game 1, only to have Gannon tie the score at 1-1 and 2-2 and then score two runs in the bottom of the seventh and final innings to narrow the final margin to one run.
Herman's one-out solo home run accounted for SRU's first run.
Michalek got a one-out walked, stole second base, moved to third on a flyout by Herman and scored on a balk for SRU's second run.
Messer slapped a two-out single and scored on Jury's double in the sixth inning.
Adams singled home The Rock's fourth Game 1 run and allowed Herman, who had walked, to move from first base to third base, from where he scored what proved to be the game-winning run on a sacrifice fly by Bender.
Gannon got back-to-back doubles to open the bottom of the seventh to plate one run and trim The Rock lead to 5-3 before Hebert got three straight flyball outs to shut the door. The second Golden Knight run of the inning scored on the first of those flyballs.
In Game 2, The Rock took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning, only to see Gannon score four runs in the bottom of the first.
SRU got one run back in the top of the fourth on Bender's leadoff home run and tied the score at 4-4 in the top of the sixth on a two-out RBI single by Messer.
The Rock then scored three times in the top of the seventh to ice the win. Key hits included a leadoff single by sophomore first baseman Derek Diruscia and back-to-back RBI doubles by Oswalt and Michalek.
Lloyd struck out the side in the bottom of the seventh, but not before also hitting his third batter and unleashing a wild pitch.
