New/Sortable Box Score 1 | New/Sortable Box Score 2
Traditional boxscores: Game 1 | Game 2


Junior right-hander Lou Trivino pitched a four-hit shutout and fanned a career-high 13 batters to set a new single-season strikeout record and lead SRU to a 3-0, nine-inning win in Friday's first game.

Gannon scored a run in the bottom of the seventh inning to claim Friday's second game by a 2-1 score.

The split gave SRU a 30-18 overall record and a 12-10 PSAC-West mark heading into Saturday's 4 p.m. doubleheader vs. Gannon at Jack Critchfield Park in Slippery Rock.

Saturday's twinbill will be part of Rock Baseball's Military Appreciation Day and Senior Day festivities.

Gannon stood 22-16 overall and 14-8 in division play at the end of Friday's action.

The combination of The Rock-Gannon split and California's split Friday vs. IUP left Gannon and California (32-15, 14-8) tied for the top spot in the division standings.

Likewise, SRU and IUP (26-22, 12-10) enter the final day of regular-season competition tied for fourth place in the division standings.

If SRU and IUP remain deadlocked at the conclusion of Saturday's action, The Rock, who won three of four head-to-head meetings with IUP this spring, advance to the PSAC tournament for a conference-best eighth consecutive season and the Crimson Hawks get left out of the party.

The top four teams in the division at the end of Saturday's action earn berths in the conference tournament, which starts Wednesday at Point Stadium in Johnstown.

Trivino outdueled previously unbeaten Gannon ace Aaron Cox (6-1) in Friday's first game to improve his season record to 7-4.

In the process, Trivino upped his season strikeout total to 86 in 76 2/3 innings this spring and surpassed Bundy Fulmer (83 strikeouts in 89 1/3 innings in 2001) as The Rock's single-season leader.

Friday's complete-game effort was Trivino's eighth of the season, which is tied for the second-best total in Rock history.

Cox (6-1) struck out nine, walked two and allowed three earned runs on six hits in a route-going effort of his own.

The Rock and Gannon battled through eight scoreless innings in Friday's first game before SRU finally broke Cox's spell with three tallies in the top of the ninth inning/

Junior shortstop Will Kengor got the game-winning rally started with a leadoff infield single. Junior outfielder Graeme Zaparzynski moved Kengor to second with a sacrifice bunt before junior Brandon Myers slapped a two-out, pinch-hit RBI single through the left side of the inning to plate the first run of the game.

Rock senior outfielder Austin Benshadle and sophomore third baseman Jake Nogalo followed by back-to-back RBI singles to complete the scoring.

Kengor was 2-for-3 in each game Friday with a double in Game 1 and two doubles in Game 2 to improve his conference-leading batting average to .463. Kengor began last week ranked second among all NCAA Division II players in hitting.

Kengor's first Game 1 hit, a leadoff double in the top of the fourth, got SRU's first potential scoring threat started. He moved to third on the first of Zaparzynski's two sacrifice bunts in the game, but was stranded at third by a popup and ground out by the next two Rock hitters.

SRU also threatened to break a scoreless tie in the sixth inning, when senior second baseman Matt Curtis smacked a one-out double, but another popup and a fly out left him stranded.

The Rock collected six doubles in the course of Friday's action. Four of their six hits in Game 2 were doubles. SRU had only two hits in the first eight innings of Game 1 before exploding for four safeties in the final frame.

Gannon threatened to score twice against Trivino, but was turned back each time.

The hosts had a runner on third base with two outs in the bottom of the first inning and a runner on second base with two outs in the third inning.

In Game 2, The Rock and Gannon both had early scoring opportunities but neither team could muster the needed hit to cash in.

Gannon had runners on first and third bases with two outs in the bottom of the second inning before Rock starting pitcher Garret Peterson got a ground-ball out to end the threat.

An inning later, the Golden Knights had runners on first and third with one out in the third. Peterson slammed the door on that threat by inducing an inning-ending, double-play groundout.

Gannon finally broke the scoreless tie with a run in the fourth inning, which it constructed from a one-out walk, a hit batsman, a wild pitch and a ground ball.

SRU had potential rallies in both the third, fourth and sixth innings, but came up dry each time.

Kengor slapped a two-out double in the third inning, only to be left standing there by an inning-ending groundout.

Senior first baseman John Shaffer had a leadoff double in the fourth to start SRUs' second scoring threat, but he was left stranded by a fly out, called third strike and groundout.

Down by a 1-0 score, The Rock loaded the bases with one out in the top of the sixth, but a double-play groundout killed the rally.

Undaunted, The Rock tied the game with a run in the top of the seventh on a leadoff double by Benshadle and an RBI single by Nogalo.

A one-out walk, a wild pitch and a game-winning double down the right-field line by the No. 9 hitter in the Gannon lineup, Dylan Schwegler, plated the game-winning run in the bottom of the seventh.

Peterson, a sophomore right-hander, allowed one earned run on five hits while striking out four and walking one in the first five innings.

Junior right-hander John Kovalik spelled Peterson in the bottom of the sixth. Kovalik struck out all three batters he faced in the bottom of the sixth, but then walked one and allowed one earned run on one hit in the final one-third of an inning to suffer his third loss in six decisions this spring.

Shayne Herold pitched a complete game for Gannon in Game 2 to improve his season record to 9-0. Herold struck out seven and walked two while allowing one earned run on six hits.

Notes: Kengor has had two or more hits in each of the last eight games and has had at least one hit in 13 of the last 14 games and 39 of 48 games played this spring … Friday's first game was The Rock's fourth extra-inning contest of the season. SRU is unbeaten in overtime … Friday's Game 1 win gave SRU its first 30-win season since the 2009, when the Green and White had a 36-15 record. The Rock have won 30 or more games in 12 of the last 15 seasons and 16 times in Messer's 28 seasons as head coach … The Rock seek their 20th trip to the PSAC tournament in the last 24 seasons and the 23rd trip in Jeff Messer's 28 seasons as head coach.