SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University baseball team swept a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division doubleheader against Pitt-Johnstown Friday afternoon at Jack Critchfield Park and in the process clinched a spot in the upcoming PSAC Tournament.
SRU gutted out a 13-11 comeback victory in the opener thanks to a walk off home run by
Preston Falascino before cruising to a 16-3 win in the nightcap.
The wins improve Slippery Rock's record to 27-16 overall and 16-10 in league play. With two games to play in the regular season, Slippery Rock holds a two-game lead over California (Pa.), which is 14-12 in division games, for third place in the PSAC-West standings.
Tyler Walters paced The Rock on the day by going 5-for-10 with five runs, five RBI and two home runs. Walters goes into the final two games of the regular season with 11 home runs, the most of any Rock freshman in program history.
Adam Urbania extended his hitting streak to 30 games, which is the longest active streak in NCAA Division II. On the day, Urbania went a combined 4-for-9 with three RBI and two doubles. Fellow senior
Jake Nogalo was 4-for-7 with five runs, three RBI and one home run.
GAME ONE: Slippery Rock 13 – Pitt-Johnstown 11Pitt-Johnstown controlled game one for over six innings and took a six-run lead into the bottom of the seventh inning before Slippery Rock rallied back with an unbelievable eight runs to take the opener 13-11.
Falascino and
Kyle Vozar led off the final inning with back-to-back singles and
Jordan Faretta was hit by a pitch to load the bases with no outs. Following an RBI-groundout by
Ty Zimmerman and a walk by Nogalo, Vozar took home on a wild pitch to make it an 11-7 contest.
Slippery Rock proceeded to whittle away at the Pitt-Johnstown lead throughout the remainder of the inning with two runs on a throwing error as well as an RBI-single by
Logan Brown to cut its deficit to 11-10 with two outs and Falascino coming back up to the plate.
After working the count in his favor, Falascino launched a 2-1 pitch from the Mountain Cats' Ryan Socol (1-6) over the right field wall to give The Rock a 13-11 victory. Four of Slippery Rock's 15 hits in the opener came off the bat of Falascino, who went 4-for-5 with four RBI.
Nogalo, Walters and Urbania all added two hits each. Two of Walters' hits came via a double and home run in a three-RBI effort.
Geoff Sanner (3-1) earned the win after holding the Mountain Cats to three unearned runs in 1.1 innings.
Ryan Oglesby got the start and lasted 5.2 innings, giving up eight runs on eight hits while striking out four.
GAME TWO: Slippery Rock 16 – Pitt-Johnstown 3While game one required late-game heroics, game two was never in doubt as The Rock scored runs in five of its six innings while
Kyle Schneider shut down the Mountain Cat offense on the way to a 13-run victory.
In his final home start, Schneider (5-3) scattered five hits and three runs over seven innings while striking out eight batters in the complete-game win. Outside of a three-run third inning, Schneider was never seriously threatened in the game.
Alex Bell started the offensive outburst with an RBI-double in the first inning before SRU blew the game open with a four-run second inning that featured a three-run home run by Nogalo, his fifth of the year, and a solo home run by Walters.
SRU continued its assault with five runs in the fourth inning, four runs in the fifth and two more in the sixth. Meanwhile, Schneider held UPJ to just four base runners in the final three innings.
Slippery Rock collected 12 hits in the contest with Nogalo, Walters and Urbania all tallying multi-hit efforts. Walters went 3-for-5 with two RBI and four runs score in addition to his home run. Nogalo and Urbania collected two hits and three RBI each.
Brown and Vozar rounded out The Rock's top performers with a home run apiece. Brown's was a three-run homer while Vozar's was a solo shot.
Slippery Rock concludes its regular season with a doubleheader at Pitt-Johnstown on Saturday. First pitch of game one is scheduled for 4:30 p.m.
