Game 2 boxscore

SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – Senior outfielder Derek Carr celebrated his return to action Friday by collecting five hits and two RBIs to help lead the Slippery Rock University baseball team to a doubleheader split with visiting Clarion in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference-Western Division action at Jack Critchfield Park.

Carr, who missed 12 games due to a shoulder injury, was 2-for-4 with one RBI in Friday's first game, which Clarion won by a 4-3 score.

In Game 2, a 10-2 Rock win, Carr was 3-for-5, including a double and a solo home run, his first roundtripper in two seasons with the Green and White.

Senior center fielder and team captain Carter Haponski had two hits in each game and picked up two Game 2 RBIs to earn the offensive co-star role.

Friday's split, SRU's eighth in 12 twinbills this spring, gave The Rock an 11-17-1 overall record and a 4-6 PSAC-West mark heading into Saturday's 1 p.m. doubleheader in Clarion that will close out the teams' four-game season series.

Clarion will enter Saturday's doubleheader with a 6-14 overall record and a 5-5 mark in division action.

Were it not for a misplayed flyball in Game 1 that opened the door to two unearned Clarion runs, The Rock would have recorded a sweep Friday. The third and fourth Clarion runs, the latter of which proved to be the difference in the game, scored in the wake of the miscue.

As it was, the Green and White had to settle for the split and getting well-pitched games by both of their starters, senior southpaw Zach Jeney and freshman right-hander Garret Peterson (pictured).

Jeney (1-2) was a hard-luck loser in Game 1 after he struck out six, walked three and allowed only two earned runs on seven hits in seven innings.

Peterson (2-3), on the other hand, allowed one earned run on only two hits, struck out two and walked two in his route-going performance. He was also the beneficiary of a 13-hit Rock offensive attack. Seven of the hits were of the extra-base varieity.

Ironically, The Rock collected a total of seven hits in the opening game, none of which went for extra bases.

After falling behind by a 4-0 score on a two-run home run by Ken Morgan in the top of the second inning and the two runs that scored on the misplayed flyball in the third, The Rock clawed its way back in Game 1 by scoring three unanswered runs.

The Rock got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the third inning thanks to back-to-back-to-back singles by junior second baseman Matt Curtis, Haponski and Carr.

A leadoff single by Haponski, a walk and an RBI single by senior catcher Matt Accardi produced the first of two Rock runs in the bottom of the fifth. A sacrifice fly by sophomore shortstop Will Kengor pushed across the second run, which cut the margin to one run, 4-3.

Accardi, following his RBI single, advanced to second on a wild pickoff attempt and moved to third on a two-out wild pitch, but he, representing the potential tying run, was stranded there.

The Rock had a runner on second base with two outs in the bottom of the sixth and another runner on second with one out in the seventh, but also left those potential tying runs stranded.

Haponski and Carr each had a pair of singles to lead The Rock's Game 1 attack.

The Rock shook off the frustration of the narrow Game 1 loss, SRU's ninth one-run setback of the season, to erupt for seven runs on seven hits in the bottom of the first inning of Game 2 and ultimately take away any suspense as to the outcome.

Key hits in the opening-inning outburst were a two-run home run by senior designated hitter Matt Kosik, his second roundtripper of the season, a two-run double by Haponski, an RBI triple by Kengor and an RBI single by senior third baseman Lee Foxton.

Foxton picked up his second RBI of the game in the bottom of the second when he singled home junior first baseman John Shaffer, who had led off the inning with a double off the fence in left-center field. That tally gave SRU an 8-0 lead after two innings.

Carr's speed on the bases produced the ninth Rock run as he stretched what looked to be a single down the right-field line into a double, then moved to third on a flyout and scored when the throw from right field sailed over the third baseman's head.

Clarion scored its only Game 2 run in the top of the fifth before Carr produced the final run with his solo home run to right field leading off the bottom of the sixth.

Carr's three hits led The Rock's Game 2 hitting attack, but Foxton, Haponski, Kengor and Kosik each had a pair of hits. Carr and Kosik each smacked a double and home run in the game.

Notes:

Kosik's Game 2 home run, his second in the last three games, moved him into a tie with sophomore outfielder/DH Brandon Myers for the team lead. The Rock has now hit six circuit clouts this spring. In addition to the two hit by Kosik and Myers, Accardi and Carr have each smacked one.

Friday's games were the first of nine home games The Rock will play in the span of 11 outings between Friday and April 13's twinbill vs. defending conference champion Mercyhurst University.

Following Saturday's short trip to Clarion, The Rock host Mansfield in a nine-inning single game Sunday, then entertain Fairmont State (W. Va.) in a four-game series next weekend before Mercyhurst comes to town. All the action is set to at 1 p.m.

The Rock and Mansfield were originally scheduled to play a doubleheader Sunday, but by mutual agreement changed their plans to a single game to help conserve their short supplies of healthy pitchers.