Game One Box Score | Game Two Box Score

CLEARWATER, Fla. – The Slippery Rock University baseball team continued its hot start to the 2015 season with a doubleheader sweep of West Chester University Sunday afternoon at Jack Russell Stadium in Clearwater, Florida.
 
The wins were the 900th and 901st in the storied career of Rock head coach Jeff Messer, who ranks eighth among all active NCAA Division II head coaches in career victories and 22nd all-time. Messer's win total is the highest for an active Pennsylvania college coach, regardless of classification, and ranks second on the Commonwealth's all-time wins list, behind only former Temple University head coach James Wilson (1,034 in 46 seasons).
 
The Rock erased a four-run deficit in extra innings to win game one 9-8 before receiving a dominating effort on the mound from senior Kyle Schneider and cruising to an 8-1 triumph in game two. Slippery Rock is now 7-1 on the season and is two wins away from starting the year 9-1 for only the fifth time in program history.
 
On the day, Senior Adam Urbania went 3-for-8 with four RBI one stolen base and the game-winning hit in the opener. Sophomore Logan Brown and senior Jake Nogalo also went 3-for-8 with Brown tallying a pair of RBI and Nagalo scoring six runs.
 
Game One: Slippery Rock 9 – West Chester 8 (9 innings)
Trailing 8-4 and down to its final out in the bottom of the ninth, freshman Tyler Walters and junior Kyle Vozar started the rally with a double and single, respectively.  Sophomore Preston Falascino, who had the game-tying hit in the seventh, came up next and struck out, but the third strike was dropped and Falascino beat the throw down to first to load the bases and keep the game alive.
 
Sophomore James Divosevic kept the rally going by driving a single to centerfield to plate Walters and Vozar. With the score now 8-6, The Rock reloaded the bases when Nogalo walked. Junior Jordan Faretta then showed great plate discipline to earn a walk to bring yet another run in and cut the deficit to just one run. Urbania quickly finished off the comeback with a walk-off single through the left side of the infield to score two runs and give Slippery Rock the 9-8 triumph in the opener.
 
Nogalo, Faretta, Urbania and Brown all recorded two-hit games for The Rock with Faretta and Urbania also driving in a pair of runs.
 
Senior starting pitcher Ryan Oglesby gave up four runs, only one of which was earned, in seven innings while striking out seven Rams batters. Junior Geoff Sanner and freshman Mitchell Wood (1-0) took the mound in extra innings. Sanner threw 1.2 innings while Wood recorded the final out in the top of the ninth to earn his first collegiate victory.
 
West Chester (0-2) netted three unearned runs off of Slippery Rock fielding miscues in the top of the third inning to take an early lead. Slippery Rock slowly chipped away at the West Chester advantage with runs in the third, fourth and sixth to pull even with the Rams heading into the seventh.
 
While The Rock's bats were busy clawing back into the game, Oglesby stymied the West Chester offense with three consecutive scoreless innings following the third until WCU was finally able to push another run across in the seventh to once again put pressure on the SRU bats.
 
Not to be outdone, The Rock answered back in the bottom of the frame. Junior Alex Bell started off with a double that led to Brown connecting on a single to put two Rock runners on base with no outs. Following a pair of strikeouts, Falascino came on as pinch hitter and promptly delivered a single to score freshman Davis Smith, who pinch ran for Bell, and force extra innings for a second consecutive day in the eventual win.
 
Game Two: Slippery Rock 8 – West Chester 1
Game two was never in doubt as Slippery scored twice in the top of the first inning off of RBI from Urbania and Bell and never looked back en route to the seven-run victory.
 
The two runs were more than enough for Schneider (2-0), who scattered four hits, allowed one unearned run, matched a career-high with nine strikeouts and did not walk a batter in the complete-game victory. He struck out five of the first 10 Rams he faced and only gave up one hit from the fifth inning on. Schneider has now pitched 12 innings this season and is yet to give up an earned run.
 
Slippery Rock added to its lead with one run in the third inning, three in the fifth and two more in the seventh. SRU, which averaged 5.9 runs per game a year ago, has scored at least six runs in a game on six occasions so far in 2015.
 
Eight different Rock players had hits in game two with Urbania and Bell both driving in two runs each. Nagalo, Brown and freshman Matt Mandes were responsible for SRU's other three RBI. Nagalo, Brown and Falascino produced The Rock's extra base hits in the nightcap with a trio of doubles.
 
Slippery Rock returns to action Monday for a doubleheader against Kentucky Wesleyan. First pitch of game one is slated for 10 a.m.