Game 2 boxscore

WASHINGTON, Pa. – Slippery Rock University split a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference-Western Division doubleheader Friday afternoon vs. hosting California U. of Pa. at Consol Energy Park to move one win away from clinching a berth in next week's conference tournament.

The Rock recorded a 7-1 win in Friday's first game before California made an early 3-0 lead stand up for a 3-2 win in the second game.

SRU (23-22-1 overall, 11-11 PSAC-West) can clinch its seventh consecutive trip to the conference tournament with either a win Saturday over California in a 1 p.m. doubleheader at Jack Critchfield Park or a Lock Haven loss in its home doubleheader vs. IUP.

California (25-21, 12-10 PSAC-W) assured itself of a berth in the conference tournament with its Game 2 win Friday.

The conference tournament starts Wednesday and runs through May 5 at Pullman Park in Butler.

Senior outfielder and team captain Carter Haponski celebrated his return to action after missing 12 games with a leg injury by going 4-for-6 and collecting two RBI in Friday's twinbill.

Haponski, who was 2-for-3 in each game, slapped two-out singles in both the second and fourth innings to account for SRU's first two runs in Game 1.

Junior first baseman John Shaffer also had two hits in Game 1, including an RBI single in the sixth inning that plated the final Rock run.

Sophomore outfielder Brandon Myers (pictured) collected two RBI on his team-best fifth home run of the season and sophomore shortstop Will Kengor slapped an RBI triple as part of SRU's four-run fifth-inning rally. That uprising expanded a precarious 2-1 lead into a 6-1 advantage.

The Rock had nine hits in Game 1.

Senior southpaw Zach Jeney withstood a seven-walk effort on his part to pitch a complete game and even his record at 3-3. He allowed one earned run on only three hits, struck out nine and hit one batter.

The only California run off Jeney came on a ground out after he had walked the bases loaded in the bottom of the second inning.

Freshman right-hander Garret Peterson was SRU's Game 2 starting and losing pitcher. He saw his season record drop to 4-5 after he allowed three earned runs on five hits in the first three innings.

Peterson finished the game with seven strikeouts and four walks and did not allow a hit or a run in the final three frames.

After California scored single runs in each of the first three innings to take an early 3-0 lead, The Rock manufactured its first run from a pair of singles, two fielder's choice and a successful double steal in the top of the fifth inning.

An inning later, Kengor singled to right field and scored on senior catcher Matt Accardi's RBI double to left-center to cut the Vulcans' lead to 3-2, but that proved to be the end of The Rock's comeback effort.

Haponski had two singles in the game to lead a five-hit Rock attack.

Division standings – In other PSAC-West action Friday, Mercyhurst (34-12, 15-7 PSAC-W) swept Gannon (24-20, 13-9 PSAC-W) by 2-1 and 14-5 scores and IUP (23-23-1) beat Lock Haven (16-27-1) by 5-2 and 7-1 scores.

Mercyhurst's sweep assures the defending conference champions of at least a share of a the division's regular-season championship and a berth in the conference tournament. Gannon is also guaranteed a spot in the conference tournament.

Rock notes – An SRU sweep Saturday of California would give The Rock the division's No. 3 seed in the conference tournament. A Rock split vs. California, combined with a Lock Haven sweep of IUP, would leave SRU and LHU tied for fourth place in the conference standings. Lock Haven would then earn the tournament berth based upon its 3-1 mark vs. The Rock in head-to-head competition this spring. If The Rock and Lock Haven both record splits Saturday or Lock Haven loses both games at IUP, The Rock earns the No. 4 seed. A California sweep of The Rock and a Lock Haven split or sweep vs. IUP sends LHU to the conference tournament … With his nine strikeouts Friday, Jeney improved his season total to 71, which moved him into a tie with Mark Draeger (1995) for fourth place on SRU's single-season strikeouts chart ... Friday's split was SRU's 11th in 20 doubleheaders this season. The Rock have recorded five twinbill sweeps this spring and have been swept four times … Friday's Game 2 loss gave the Green and White a 5-12 record in one-run games this spring … The double play turned by The Rock in the sixth inning of Fridays' Game 1 was their 35th of the season, which ranks as the highest total since the 2006 team turned 41 DPs.