BRISTOL, Tenn. – The Slippery Rock University baseball team opened up its 2015 season with a doubleheader sweep of King University Friday afternoon at the King Baseball Field in Bristol, Tenn.
 
The Rock (2-0) earned the victory with a pair of dominant pitching performances and very timely offense. SRU started the season with a 5-0 sweep of the Tornado in game one before taking the nightcap 6-2. The game one victory was Slippery Rock's sixth shutout to open a season in school history.
 
Leading the way for Slippery Rock's offense for the day was the duo of senior shortstop Jake Nogalo and sophomore third baseman Preston Falascino. Nogalo went 5-for-8 with three runs scored, three RBI and two stolen bases as The Rock's leadoff batter while Falascino compiled a 4-for-8 day that included one triple and three RBI.
 
On the mound, Slippery Rock received quality starts from seniors Ryan Oglesby and Kyle Schneider. Both players registered victories. Out of the bullpen, redshirt junior Jon Anderson and sophomore James Divosevic came in to record saves in game one and two, respectively. SRU pitchers did not allow an earned run in 14 innings Friday.
 
Game 1 Slippery Rock 5 – King 0
Nogalo started The Rock's season off in fine fashion by hitting a single on the first pitch of 2015 to leadoff the game. From there SRU proceeded to load the bases leading to junior second baseman Jordan Faretta delivering a two-run single to left field with two outs to plate Nogalo and Falascino to put SRU up 2-0 early on.
 
The two runs would be more than enough for the pitching duo of Oglesby and Anderson. Oglesby scattered three hits over four innings while also posting four strikeouts. The lefty allowed just one King batter to reach second base Friday in the second longest outing of his career.
 
Anderson came on for Oglesby in relief in the fifth inning and was just as in command. He didn't allow one Tornado hit and walked just two batters while striking out two King hitters en route to the three-inning save.
 
The Rock's offense added three insurance runs in the fourth inning off of a Nogalo RBI-single and a two-run single by Falascino.
 
Nogalo finished the season-opener 3-for-4 with two runs scored, one RBI and one stolen base. Falascino, junior catcher Alex Bell and Divosevic all tallied two-hit showings as well. Bell also threw out two Tornado base runners attempting to steal.
 
Game 2: Slippery Rock 6 – King 2
With game two tied at 0-0 entering the third, freshman catcher Tyler Walters jumpstarted Slippery Rock's offense with his first collegiate hit to leadoff the inning. Walters advanced to second via a groundout by Divosevic before scoring off of a sharp single to left field by Nogalo.
 
The Tornado evened the contest with a run of their own in the bottom half of the inning, but Slippery Rock managed to take the lead for good in the sixth inning thanks to a sacrifice fly by Bell that plated Falascino, who singled earlier in the inning and reached third on a Kings fielding error.
 
SRU then busted the game open with a four-run seventh inning that featured run-scoring triples by Walters and Falascino as well as RBI-hits by Nogalo and senior outfielder Adam Urbania.
 
King would get one run back in the bottom half of the inning, but never seriously threatened Slippery Rock as Divosevic finished off the game to ensure The Rock's 6-2 triumph.
 
Schneider (1-0) gave SRU five innings of five-hit baseball that included four strikeouts with Divosevic handling the final two innings.
 
Nogalo and Falascino were both 2-for-4 in game two to go with respective two-RBI and two-run games. Walters drove in one run, scored twice and collected a pair of hits in the first game of his Rock career.
 
Slippery Rock concludes its season-opening series at King with a doubleheader Saturday. First pitch of game one is scheduled for 12 p.m.