Game 2 boxscore

LOCK HAVEN, Pa. – Slippery Rock University blew 4-0 and 5-0 leads Friday afternoon and wound up getting swept, 5-4 and 9-5, by hosting Lock Haven University in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference-Western Division baseball action.

The losses dropped SRU's season records to 9-15-1 overall, 2-4 in PSAC-West action.

Lock Haven improved its season records to 6-14 overall, 2-4 in division action.

The Rock and Bald Eagles are scheduled to close out their four-game season series with a 1 p.m. doubleheader Saturday at Jack Critchfield Park in Slippery Rock.

SRU scored single runs in the top of the first, third, fourth and fifth innings in Game 1 before Lock Haven got three runs in the bottom of the sixth and two tallies in the seventh to record its first come-from-behind win of the day.

The Rock manufactured their first Game 1 run from walks to the first three batters and a one-out sacrifice fly by sophomore shortstop Will Kengor.

The second Rock run was also set up by a base on balls. A stolen base and two groundouts, the latter by senior catcher Matt Accardi, pushed the run across.

Sophomore right fielder Brandon Myers' team-best second home run of the season, a solo shot with one out in the fourth, made it a 3-0 game.

Myers' roundtripper was the first hit of the game for SRU. He added a sixth-inning single to finish as the only Rock player with more than one hit in the game as The Rock were held to five hits.

Junior first baseman John Shaffer smacked a leadoff double, went to third on a flyout and scored on a Lock Haven throwing error in the fifth to give SRU a 4-0 lead.

Rock senior southpaw pitcher Zach Jeney held Lock Haven to only two hits in the first five innings before the Bald Eagles got two hits and made the most of two Rock errors in the bottom of the sixth to score three runs (two earned) and close the gap to 4-3.

Jeney, who struck out nine and walked two during his stint on the mound, wound up with a no-decision.

Sophomore right-hander John Kovalik replaced Jeney in the bottom of the seventh and was tagged with the loss after he allowed two earned runs on three hits in two-thirds of an inning of work.

In Game 2, The Rock broke a scoreless tie by scoring five runs on six hits in the top of the fourth inning. Key hits in the outburst were a leadoff double by Shaffer, a two-run double by junior second baseman Matt Curtis and RBI singles by junior left fielder Ben Bechtol, sophomore right fielder Graeme Zaparzynski and senior center fielder and team captain Carter Haponski. Sophomore catcher Kevin Jovanovich also had a single during the rally.

Bechtol finished the game 3-for-3 to lead a 12-hit Rock attack. Haponski, Jovanovich and Shaffer each added two hits.

Lock Haven scored its first run on a solo home run in the bottom of the fourth by Scott Zuback, then exploded for eight runs on five hits and one Rock error in the fifth to lock up the Game 2 win.

Rock freshman right-hander Garret Peterson (1-2) pitched the first four-plus innings and was charged with the loss after he allowed six earned runs on five hits, struck out three, walked two and hit two batters.

Peterson allowed only one run on two hits in the first four full innings, but then gave up three hits, walked one and hit one batter in the fifth without recording an out.

Sophomore righty Anthony Naso relieved Peterson and met with the same success as he allowed three runs (two earned) on two hits and walked one in one-third of an inning.

Kovalik relieved Naso with one out in the bottom of the fifth and finished the game. He struck out three and allowed one hit in the final one and two-thirds innings.

Notes:

Friday marked the third time this season The Rock lost both games in a doubleheader … SRU has swept one twinbill and split the other six … Friday's Game 1 loss was the eighth one-loss defeat The Rock has suffered this spring.