WASHINGTON, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University baseball team earned its first Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division victory of the season in a doubleheader split against Pitt-Johnstown Sunday afternoon at CONSOL Energy Park in Washington, Pennsylvania.
 
Slippery Rock (5-17, 1-3 PSAC West) cruised to a 22-4 victory in the opener before UPJ (10-11, 3-1) salvaged a split with a 12-4 victory in game two. The Rock's 22 runs in game one were the most scored by SRU this season.
 
GAME ONE: Slippery Rock 22 – Pitt-Johnstown 4
Slippery Rock wasted little time putting game one out of reach thanks to a 10-run, nine-hit first inning that included a three-run home run by Tyler Walters, a two-run single from Christian Porterfield and a two-run triple by Mitchell Wood.
 
Walters' homer was the 20th of his career, which is tied for sixth place in Rock history with Mike Sikorski (2000-03).
 
SRU's offense continued its furious pace with three more runs in the second inning followed by a seven-run third inning that gave The Rock a 20-0 lead.
 
UPJ finally broke the shutout with two runs in the fourth inning only to see Slippery Rock respond with two more runs in the fifth off of back-to-back run-scoring hits from Ty Zimmerman and James Divosevic. Pitt-Johnstown added two more runs in the seventh en route to The Rock's 18-run win.
 
Matt Gordon (2-1) was dominant on the mound. He had six strikeouts over seven innings while giving up just seven hits. Only two of UPJ's four runs against Gordon were earned.
 
Every Rock starter recorded at least one hit in the opener with five players tallying multi-hit games. Walters led the way on an impressive 5-for-5 performance that included one home run, two doubles, three runs scored and five RBI.
 
Porterfield and Zimmerman both went 3-for-5 with Porterfield knocking in three runs and Zimmerman two. Alex Bell, Jordan Faretta and Divosevic all chipped in two hits apiece as well with Faretta recording a pair of RBI.
 
GAME TWO: Pitt-Johnstown 12 – Slippery Rock 4
Slippery Rock held a one-run lead over the Mountain Cats heading into the sixth inning of game two, but UPJ managed to rally for 11 runs over the final two frames to escape with a 12-4 victory in the nightcap.
 
Bell once again got Slippery Rock started fast with an RBI-single in the first inning. The 1-0 lead lasted until Nate Negri's solo home run evened the score in the third inning. SRU quickly retook the lead in the bottom half of the inning thanks to another RBI-single from Bell that scored Zimmerman, who was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning before advancing to second on Walters single.
 
UPJ's Jake Stern hit a leadoff double in the sixth that knocked Rock starter Shawn Holman from the game in favor of Preston Falascino. However, Falascino would fare no better than Holman did in the sixth as Luke Williams immediately launched a home run to ignite a four-run inning that gave Pitt-Johnstown a 5-3 advantage.
 
Slippery Rock got one run back in the bottom of the inning off of a Falascino run-scoring single that plated Carson Kessler, who had a single earlier in the inning and took second base on a base hit by Frankie Jezioro. However, SRU left two runners on base to end the threat and UPJ went on to register seven runs in the seventh to blow the contest open.
 
Slippery Rock added a final run in the seventh by way of a Joe Campagna RBI-single, but UPJ's lead was never in danger in the final inning as the Mountain Cats claimed the 12-4 victory for its third win of the series.
 
Holman lasted five innings, striking out four and giving up two runs on six hits and two walks in the no decision. Falascino (1-2) was the pitcher of record for SRU. He went 1.1 innings, allowing seven runs on five hits and two walks. Andrew Null recorded the final two outs in the seventh in relief of Falascino.
 
Bell accounted for three of SRU's 11 hits in game two to extend his hitting streak to a team-high 10 games. Included in Bell's hits were two RBI. Zimmerman went 2-for-3 with three runs scored and one double as well.
 
Slippery Rock continues PSAC West play with a four-game series against Mercyhurst University next week. The Rock and Lakers will play a doubleheader at Slippery Rock Friday as well as a doubleheader at Mercyhurst Saturday. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m. on both days.