Boxscore

WINTER HAVEN, Fla – Two costly errors opened the door to six unearned runs by St. Joseph's College of Indiana and resulted in a 7-3 loss Sunday afternoon for the 17th-ranked Slippery Rock University baseball team.

The loss was the fourth straight suffered by The Rock, who will take a 5-4 record into a 2:30 p.m. single game Monday vs. West Chester (3-0).

St. Joseph's, which dropped a pair of games to SRU on the teams' opening weekend of action Feb. 19-20, improved its record to 3-5.

Senior center fielder Matt Howard (left photo) and senior designated hitter Mitchell Monas each had a double to highlight a four-hit Rock attack.

Monday's game vs. West Chester, which has regional ramifications, will mark the end of the first half of SRU's annual spring trip to the Sunshine State.

West Chester and SRU were ranked 1-2 in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Division II Atlantic Regional poll released last Monday. The teams were also 12th and 17th, respectively, in the NCBWA national poll. The Rock was ranked 19th in last week's American Baseball Coaches Association national poll, while West Chester was included among the teams that also received votes.

The Rock will have an off day Tuesday before visiting Tampa (#5 NCBWA poll, #6 ABCA poll) in a 6 p.m. game Wednesday.

SRU then meets perennial national power Ashland in a twinbill Thursday and has another single game vs. West Chester on Friday before closing out the spring trip with a single game Saturday morning vs. Mansfield.