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Traditional Box Score CLEARWATER, Fla. - The Slippery Rock University baseball team defeated Saginaw Valley State, 5-4, in 12 innings Saturday at Jack Russell Stadium in what was SRU's longest game since the 2009 season.
With the game knotted at 4-4 and neither team having scored in the previous four innings, senior outfielder
Adam Urbania led off the 12
th inning with a double down the right field line. Junior designated hitter
Alex Bell then came through with his fourth hit of the day, this one a single, to score Urbania.
Sophomore
James Divosevic gave up a leadoff walk in the bottom of the 12th, but regrouped and retired three straight Saginaw Valley hitters to close out the contest.
The win improves The Rock's record to 5-1 on the year. Saginaw Valley State drops to 5-2 overall with the loss.
Bell finished Saturday 4-for-6 with four RBI and one run scored. The four hits and four RBI matched his career-high in both categories.
Freshman catcher
Tyler Walters continued his impressive start to his collegiate career with three hits in six at-bats and one RBI. Walters has had at least two hits in all four games he has played this year and is currently batting .562 with four RBI.
Sophomore outfielder
Logan Brown added three hits as well. Urbania chipped in two hits and senior shortstop
Jake Nogalo also scored twice.
The trio of senior
Anton Constantino, freshman
Alex Pantuso and Divosevic combined to give The Rock a great performance on the mound. Constantino started, going 5.2 innings with five strikeouts and four runs allowed. Pantuso (1-0) followed in relief and gave SRU 5.1 innings of shutout baseball that included five strikeouts. Divosevic's save was his second of 2015.
Bell got The Rock started early with an RBI-single up the middle in the first inning that plated Nogalo, who reached base to start the game on a fielding error.
Constantino successfully navigated around the Cardinals' lineup by allowing just two hits in the opening three innings before SVSU was able to score a pair of runs in the fourth to take a 2-1 lead.
Following a scoreless fifth inning, Slippery Rock evened the contest at 2-2 when Walters shot a single through the left side of the infield to score Bell, who go on via single and later advanced to second on a Brown hit before touching home.
Saginaw Valley answered with two more runs in the bottom half of the inning, but couldn't hang onto the lead as SRU fired back with two runs of its own in the seventh thanks to yet another big hit by Bell that drove in sophomore third baseman
Preston Falascino and Nogalo.
Pantuso, who came on for Constantino in the sixth, as well as Saginaw Valley pitchers Jeff Schalk and Pete Baumgartner then took over the game. Pantuso held SVSU to only one hit while the Cardinals limited SRU to five hits from the eighth inning on.
SRU seemed poised to score the go-ahead run in the 11
th when junior first baseman
Kyle Vozar doubled to lead off the inning, but Baumgartner was able to work out of the jam by retiring the next three Rock batters.
Pantuso tossed another scoreless inning in the 11
th to allow The Rock to get to the 12th inning and grab the win.
Slippery Rock's last 12-inning game came against West Liberty University on April 1, 2009.
Brad Schalk had two hits and two RBI to pace Saginaw Valley in the loss.
Slippery Rock's time in Clearwater, Florida continues on Sunday against West Chester University in a doubleheader. First pitch of game one is scheduled for 10 a.m.
