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CLEARWATER, Fla. – The Slippery Rock University baseball team rallied to score four runs in the eighth inning to down the University of the Sciences, 6-3, Friday afternoon on day one of The Rock's spring break trip at Jack Russell Stadium in Clearwater, Florida.
 
The victory improved The Rock's record to 4-1 on the season. The University of the Sciences dropped to 0-7 with the loss.
 
After a slow start to the season in The Rock's season-opening series at King University, senior outfielder Adam Urbania came alive to produce a 3-for-5 performance that included a triple, a home run and four RBI.
 
Freshman designated hitter Tyler Walters and sophomore first baseman Carson Kessler both drove in runs as well with Walters finishing the day 2-for-4. Junior second baseman Jordan Faretta scored twice and also had a multi-hit outing in addition to walking once.
 
Sophomore pitcher Preston Falascino made his first start of the season, lasting six innings and striking out a career-high five batters while scattering nine hits and allowing three runs. Junior reliever Geoff Sanner continued his strong start to the year out of The Rock's bullpen. Sanner came on for Falascino in the seventh inning and went on to throw three scoreless innings to register the win. In three appearances this season, Sanner is 1-0 with one save, six strikeouts and a 1.69 ERA.
 
SRU struck first when Urbania belted a two-out triple in the third inning to score Faretta and sophomore third baseman Ty Zimmerman. However, The Rock's lead was short-lived as the Devils answered back with three runs in the bottom half of the inning.
 
Falascino, Sanner, and their counterpart C.J. Hertz all proceeded to control the middle half of the game as neither team was able to push a run across, allowing the Devils to take its one-run advantage into the decisive eighth inning.
 
Faretta led off the frame with a single, which caused Devils coach Kevin Woodbridge to bring Pablo Matos into pitch in place of Hertz to face Urbania, who won the matchup by hitting his first home run of the season to put Slippery Rock up 4-3.
 
Junior catcher Alex Bell followed the homer up with a single and sophomore outfielder Logan Brown then reached base via a fielding error to set the stage for Walters and Kessler. Walters doubled to score Bell and Kessler brought in Brown off of a sacrifice fly to extend The Rock's lead to 6-3.

Sanner was never seriously threatened in the final two innings to close out yet another Slippery Rock victory.
 
Faretta has hit safely in all five games in 2015.
 
Mark Gervasi went 3-for-5 with two RBI to lead the Devils in the loss.
 
Slippery Rock was scheduled to play Cedarville University in its second game of the day, but the contest was canceled due to rain.
 
Weather permitting; Slippery Rock will look to continue its hot start to the season when it plays Saginaw Valley State University Saturday at 10 a.m. at Jack Russell Stadium.