Game 1 boxscore
Game 2 boxscore
SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. -- The 30th-ranked Slippery Rock University baseball team unleashed a 15-hit offensive attack in the second game of Saturday's Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference-Western Division doubleheader at Jack Critchfield Park to salvage a split against Mercyhurst College.
SRU (26-12 overall, 12-8 PSAC-W) won Game 2 by a 13-9 margin after the Lakers (24-13, 11-5) took Game 1 by a 9-6 margin.
At the completion of action Saturday afternoon, Mercyhurst -- which won three of four games in the weekend series with The Rock -- was in second place in the division standings with The Rock in third place.
California (Pa.) which swept a twinbill Saturday against Indiana (Pa.), leads the division with a 12-2 division mark (27-8 overall).
Senior third baseman Billy Herman paced The Rock offensive attack in Saturday's doubleheader as he collected five hits and four RBIs in the two games. He had three hits in the opening game and was one of seven Rock players who had two hits in Game 2.
Freshman right fielder Matt Kosik and senior center fielder Rich Michalek each finished the day with four hits. Kosik collected four RBIs in the twinbill, while Michalek plated three runs.
Kosik smacked his second home run of the season and second in as many days when he clobbered a two-run blast in the bottom of the sixth inning of Game 1. That was the only roundtripper hit in the doubleheader.
Herman had a double to complete the list of Rock extra-base knocks in Game 1. Michalek and junior second baseman Billy Messer each swatted a triple, while sophomore first baseman Derek Diruscia had two doubles and junior catcher Matt Adams added one double in Game 2.
The Rock and Mercyhurst battled to a 3-3 stalemate in the first five innings of Game 1 before the guests plated six runs off Rock relief pitcher Rich Hocanson in the top of the sixth to take an insurmountable lead.
SRU made it interersting, though, as the hosts responded to Mercyhurst's six-run rally with a three-run outburst of its own in the bottom of the sixth but the comeback proved to be too little and too late.
Junior right-hander George Hebert pitched the first five innings of Game 1 for SRU and left the game with the score tied at 3-3. Hebert allowed three earned runs on seven hits, struck out two and walked two during his time on the mound.
Hocanson (2-2), who was sidelined for almost four weeks by an injury, yielded six earned runs on four hits and walked one in only one-third of an inning. Justin Thomas then allowed one hit and walked one in the next two-thirds of an inning before Nic McCowin allowed two hits in the final inning.
The Rock took a quick 3-0 lead in Game 2, thanks to three tallies in the bottom of the first inning, only to see Mercyhurst scored four times in the top of the second to take a 4-3 lead.
Four Rock runs in the bottom of the third and five tallies in the fourth put the hosts back on top and pushed them to a 12-4 lead.
Mercyhurst closed the margin to six runs with a pair of tallies in the top of the fifth before SRU plated its final run in the bottom of the sixth to make it a 13-6 game heading into the final frame.
Three Mercyhurst runs in the top of the seventh accounted for the final four-run margin.
Junior right-hander Vince Lloyd pitched the first six innings for SRU and picked up the win, his sixth in seven decisions this spring. He allowed six runs (three earned) on seven hits, struck out seven, walked five and hit one.
McCowin yiielded three runs (two earned) on four hits, struck out one and walked one in the final inning.
The Rock returns to action Tuesday, when it will host NCAA Division II Atlantic Regional rival Ohio Valley (W. Va.) in a 3 p.m. doubleheader.
SRU then travels to regional rival Shepherd (W. Va.) for a 1 p.m. twinbill Wednesday before entertaining Lake Erie College of Ohio in a pair of non-conference/non-regional twinbills next weekend (Saturday and Sunday).
