Game One Box Score | Game Two Box Score
 
SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University baseball team opened up its 2015 home schedule with a doubleheader split against Indiana (Pa.) on Saturday afternoon at Jack Critchfield Park. SRU earned a 10-5 win in game two before IUP avoided the sweep with a 21-8 victory in the nightcap.
 
The split pushes The Rock's record at 8-7 overall and 1-3 in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division play. The Crimson Hawks will enter Sunday's series-ending doubleheader against Slippery Rock at 6-6 overall and 3-1 in league games.
 
Sophomore Preston Falascino slugged a pair of home runs and had four RBI in the opener. Senior Jake Nogalo went a combined 4-for-6 with four runs scored, two RBI and two walks. Fellow senior Adam Urbania compiled two quality games as well, going 4-for-8 with two runs and four RBI.
 
GAME ONE: Slippery Rock 10 – Indiana 5
Saturday's opener had all the makings of a slugfest early on as all 15 of the game's runs were scored in the first three innings.
 
With Indiana already leading 3-0 after a half inning of play, Slippery Rock went to work on making its comeback. Nogalo led off the bottom of the first with a double and was promptly brought in one batter later off of Falascino's first home run of the day.
 
Slippery Rock continued its assault later in the inning when, with junior Alex Bell already on base, junior Jordan Faretta launched his first home run of the season over the left field fence to put SRU ahead 4-3.
 
Indiana answered back with two more runs in the second inning only to have Slippery Rock once again fire right back thanks to the combination of Nogalo and Falascino. With two outs, Nogalo connected on a base hit to keep the inning alive and get Falascino back up, who would drive another pitch over the left field wall to give The Rock a one-run lead that it would never relinquish.
 
SRU added four more runs in the third thanks to a one-run single by Nogalo, a two-run double by Urbania as well as a RBI-double by Bell. The rest of the game belonged to starting pitcher Ryan Oglesby (2-1), who settled down after a turbulent first two innings to hold Indiana scoreless and to just two hits over the final four innings en route to the 10-5 win.
 
Oglesby finished his outing with an emphatic seventh inning that saw the senior hurler strikeout the side. On the day, Oglesby struck out six batters while scattering eight hits. The complete game was Oglesby's second of the season. He has now struck out at least five batters in each of his last three appearances.
 
Nogalo, Falascino and Bell all had multi-hit games for SRU in the opener with Nogalo going 3-for-4 with three runs, one RBI and a double as Slippery Rock's leadoff hitter. Falascino had two home runs, two runs and four RBI while Bell rounded out the trio with a 2-for-3 one-run, one-RBI performance.
 
Ryan Uhl paced Indiana with two home runs and four RBI. Zach DeTillio (0-3) took the loss after allowing seven runs and six hits in two innings.
 
GAME TWO: INDIANA 21 – SLIPPERY ROCK 8
Nine Indiana runs over the first three innings proved too much for The Rock to overcome as the Crimson Hawks managed to salvage their day with a 21-8 victory in game two.
 
Any hopes of a Rock comeback were put to rest in the fourth inning when IUP increased its lead to 13-2 with a four-run frame on the way to the win.
 
Urbania put together another solid game for SRU via a 3-for-5, two-RBI effort. Freshman Tyler Walters and sophomore Ty Zimmerman tallied two-hit games as well. Walters also drove in a pair Rock base runners.
 
Rock senior starting pitcher Kyle Schneider (2-2) had a rare rough outing on the mound, surrendering 11 runs, 10 earned, on 10 hits while striking out five Crimson Hawks in 3.1 innings of work. Freshman Stephen Mckee, freshman Andrew Null and senior Zac Anderson made appearances out of The Rock bullpen to finish the game.
 
Mike Lupia and Austin Mock led the way for IUP in game two, going a combined 10-for-11 with 10 RBI and seven runs scored. Matt Douglas (2-0) improved to 2-0 after giving up four runs and five hits in four innings.
 
Slippery Rock and Indiana continue the four-game series with a Sunday doubleheader at Point Stadium in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. First pitch is set for 1 p.m.