Game 2 boxscore

SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University baseball team extended its win streak to six games Friday afternoon with a 2-1, 10-1 doubleheader sweep of visiting Fairmont State University in non-conference action at Jack Critchfield Park.

A two-out, two-run single to right field by sophomore shortstop Will Kengor in the bottom of the sixth inning pushed across the tying and winning runs in Game 1.

Sophomore right fielder Brandon Myers was 3-for-4, highlighted by a two-run home run, and junior first baseman John Shaffer was 2-for-4 with three RBIs, including an RBI triple, to lead The Rock to their Game 2 win.

Kengor, in addition to picking up the only Rock RBIs in Game 1, accounted for half the hosts' base hits as he finished the game 2-for-4.

Myers and Shaffer combined for five of The Rock's eight hits in Game 2.

Friday's wins improved SRU's season record to 16-17-1 as the Green and White prepared to close out the four-game weekend series vs. Fairmont State (12-17) with a 1 p.m. doubleheader Saturday at Critchfield Park.

Hand-in-hand with the offensive effort Friday came a pair of solid complete-game pitching performances by senior southpaw Zach Jeney and freshman right-hander Garret Peterson.

Jeney (top photo) struck out 12, walked one, and allowed one earned run on two hits in Game 1. The only hits off him were a bunt single in the second inning after he had struck out the first four Falcons to face him and a bloop two-out single down the left field line that plated Fairmont State's only run of the game in the top of the fifth inning.

Peterson (bottom) shook off some early wildness to also allow only one earned run on two hits in Game 2. He struck out six and, like Jeney, only issued one base on balls.

The only Fairmont State run in Game 2 came as a direct result of Peterson's own mistakes. He hit the first batter to face him, then threw wildly on a pickoff attempt to allow the runner to move to third, from where he was able to trot home on the first Falcons base hit.

Kengor's game-winning single in Game 1 came one batter after a Fairmont State infielder booted a potential inning-ending ground ball by Shaffer with runners on first and second bases and two outs.

The big hit also allowed The Rock to overlook a pair of squandered scoring opportunities earlier in the game. SRU had the bases loaded with two outs in both the second and fourth innings but could only muster a pair of harmless groundouts to end the threats.

Game 2 was a different story.

After Fairmont State parlayed Peterson's early wildness into a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning of Game 2, a bases-loaded walk by junior utility player Ben Bechtol with one out in the bottom of the third inning pushed across the tying run. Shaffer, the next batter in The Rock lineup, then brought home what proved to be the game-winning run with an opposite-way ground out.

The Rock padded its Game 2 lead with four runs in the bottom of the fourth, keyed by RBI singles from Bechtol and Shaffer, before Myers' two-run roundtripper to right field one inning later expanded the margin to 8-1.

The circuit clout was Myers' team-best third of the season.

Shaffer's RBI triple and a run-scoring ground out by Kengor in the sixth set the final margin at 10-1.

Junior second baseman Matt Curtis had the most painful day for a Rock player as he was hit by a pitch four times in the twinbill, including three times in as many plate appearances in Game 2.

Saturday's twinbill vs. Fairmont State will be the fifth of seven straight home games for The Rock, who close out their homestand next Friday with a 1 p.m. doubleheader vs. defending Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference champion Mercyhurst.

Following next Friday's games, The Rock will play six of their final 10 regular-season contests on the road.