CLARION, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University baseball team scored an impressive 22 runs in a doubleheader sweep of Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division rival Clarion University Friday afternoon at Memorial Stadium.
Slippery Rock cruised to a 7-1 win in the opener before capturing game two, 15-4. The 15 runs scored were a single-game season-high for Slippery Rock.
The wins improve Slippery Rock's record to 22-15 overall and 12-10 in PSAC-West play. SRU has now won 11 of its last 14 games to pull closer to securing a spot in the upcoming PSAC Tournament. Slippery Rock needs two more wins to assure itself of a 21st consecutive season without a losing record. The losses drop Clarion's record to 7-22 overall and 5-17 in league play.
Adam Urbania continued to dominate PSAC-West pitching while extending his hitting streak to 24 games, going 6-for-9 with four runs, six RBI, three doubles and one home run on the day. For the season, Urbania is now hitting .443 with 36 runs, seven home runs, 37 RBI, a .516 on-base percentage and a league-leading 21 doubles. He is batting .511 (44-for-86) during his hitting streak, which started March 21.
Other standouts for SRU Friday included
Kyle Vozar,
Jake Nogalo,
Preston Falascino and
Ryan Oglesby.
Vozar had five hits in eight at-bats in addition to three RBI while Nogalo was 4-for-7 atop The Rock's batting order. Following a 2-for-4, two run, one-home run performance in game one, Falascino (2-1) earned the win on the mound in game two after striking out three batters in seven innings. Oglesby (4-3) narrowly missed out on the first complete-game shutout by a Rock starter this season in the opener.
GAME ONE: Slippery Rock 7 – Clarion 1Oglesby was dominant in game one Friday, holding Clarion to just one unearned run on six hits and three walks while striking out three Golden Eagles in the victory, his fourth of the season. The complete game was Oglesby's team-high fifth in 2015.
SRU got out to an early 2-0 lead thanks to an RBI-single by Nogalo in the second inning and a solo home run off the bat of Falascino in the fourth inning. The homer was Falascino's sixth of the year.
Slippery Rock scored three runs in the fifth inning to break the game open. Following a leadoff single by Urbania,
Alex Bell struck a run-scoring double. Later in the inning,
Jordan Faretta laced a two-run single that scored Bell and
Logan Brown to give SRU a commanding 5-0 lead.
Clarion managed its lone run of the opener in the sixth when Tyler Falk scored on an SRU fielding error. However, Faretta and
Ty Zimmerman each drove a run in during the seventh en route to the six-run Rock triumph.
Slippery Rock totaled 13 hits in the opener with Nogalo leading the way on a 3-for-4, one-RBI effort. Falascino, Urbania and Vozar all added two hits apiece while Faretta finished 1-for-3 with three RBI and a walk.
Kane McCall gave up five runs on 10 hits in the loss for Clarion.
GAME TWO: Slippery Rock 15 – Clarion 4Slippery Rock tallied five runs in the first inning to set the tone early in game two's double-digit win.
Nogalo and
Tyler Walters got on base to start the game before promptly scoring on a bases-clearing double by Urbania. Clarion pitcher Josh Friel would walk the next three batters to surrender another Rock run. The inning ended with Vozar driving in a run on a sacrifice fly and Brown scoring on a wild pitch.
Clarion got two runs back in the bottom of the inning, but Slippery Rock immediately countered by producing four runs in the second off of Urbania's two-run homer and a two-run double by Vozar.
The Golden Eagles scored one run in the fourth, but left the bases loaded as Slippery Rock tacked on four runs in the fifth and two more in the sixth via a home run by Zimmerman while Falascino only allowed one additional CU score in the final three innings to secure the SRU victory.
Nine different Rock players registered hits in game two including Urbania, who was 4-for-5 with three runs, one home run, six RBI and three doubles. Vozar went 3-for-4, driving in three runs and scoring two more along the way.
Matt Mandes came off the bench to drive in a pair of runs as well.
Falascino (2-1) finished the game allowing four runs on six hits and two walks in 104 pitches. The complete-game victory was the first of Falascino's career.
Slippery Rock will go for the four-game series sweep of Clarion when it hosts the Golden Eagles Saturday at Jack Critchfield Park. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m.
