WINGATE, N.C. – The Slippery Rock University baseball team lost a pair of non-conference games at Wingate University Sunday afternoon. SRU dropped the opener 13-4 before falling 10-3 in game two.
Mistakes plagued The Rock (1-3) all afternoon as Slippery Rock had a total of eight errors and 10 wild pitches in the doubleheader.
GAME ONE: Wingate 13 – Slippery Rock 4Slippery Rock wasted little time opening the day with a pair of first-inning runs in game one.
Frankie Jezioro started the contest with a leadoff single and went on to steal a pair of bases before trotting home on an
Alex Bell home run that sailed over the left field fence to give SRU the early two-run lead.
Wingate (5-4) got both runs back in the bottom of the first and both teams proceeded to trade runs in the third inning to make it a 3-3 game going into the fourth. The Rock scored its third-inning run on an RBI-ground out by
Ty Zimmerman that scored
Mitchell Wood, who singled earlier in the frame and advanced to third on a wild pitch.
The Bulldogs took control of the game in the fourth inning by scoring seven runs off of four hits, three Rock errors and two wild pitches to take a commanding 10-3 lead.
Slippery Rock added one more run in the fifth, but any hopes of a comeback were put to rest when Wingate produced three more runs over the fifth and sixth innings to take the opener 13-4.
Wood was 2-for-3 with two runs and one double. Bell's only hit of the game was his aforementioned home run, but he also walked once. Jezioro and Zimmerman were responsible for Slippery Rock's other two hits.
Stephen McKee (0-1) got the start on the mound for The Rock, allowing six runs, three earned, on five hits and five walks over three innings.
Jay Cortese made his SRU debut out of the bullpen, throwing three innings and giving up seven runs, only one of which was earned, while striking out two Bulldog batters.
Brandon Donahue (1-0) picked up the win for Wingate after striking out five and giving away four runs on four hits and five walks in five innings. Dusty Ayscue and Connor Clark threw scoreless innings in relief to close out the contest for the Bulldogs.
GAME TWO: Wingate 10 – Slippery Rock 3Slippery Rock was once again unable to hold onto an early lead to start game two. Following a run in the top of the first off of a
Christian Porterfield single that plated Zimmerman, who doubled to get on base, SRU surrendered eight runs to Wingate over the next four innings, including a seven-run second inning, to trail 9-1 midway through the contest.
Slippery Rock added runs in the sixth inning, off of
Joe Campagna's first collegiate home run, and in the seventh via a Porterfield RBI-single while Wingate notched its 10th run of the game in the sixth en route to the 10-3 victory.
Zimmerman, Falascino, Porterfield and
James Divosevic all registered two-hit outings in game two. Porterfield drove in two runs as well.
Preston Falascino (0-1) was the pitcher of record for Slippery Rock; he finished his first outing of the season with eight runs allowed, six earned, and one strikeouts in two innings.
Shawn Holman came on in relief of Falascino and scattered two runs and four hits over four innings.
Hunter Hamilton (1-0) had seven strikeouts in six innings of work for Wingate in the win.
Slippery Rock resumes its season with three games at the Dinwiddie Invitational Feb. 26-27 in Dinwiddie, Virginia. Slippery Rock plays Saint Thomas Aquinas College 7 p.m. Feb. 26 before playing West Chester University (12 p.m.) and Philadelphia University (6 p.m.) Feb. 27.
