ABURNDALE, Fla. – The Slippery Rock University baseball team split a doubleheader against West Chester University Wednesday afternoon in a pair of high-scoring games at the RussMatt Invitational in Auburndale, Florida. SRU dropped the opener, 15-0, before rebounding for a 17-1 victory in game two.
Alex Bell went 5-for-8 with seven RBI, two home runs and one double over the two games to lead Slippery Rock (4-12) on the day.
Tyler Walters was 4-for-8 with three runs, three RBI and two doubles; he was the only other Rock player to record hits in both games. Walters is now batting .509 with five home runs and 23 RBI on the year.
GAME ONE: West Chester 15 – Slippery Rock 0Slippery Rock played even with the Rams for much of opener; through four innings West Chester led just 2-0. However, WCU tallied four runs in the fifth inning and one more in the six to take a 7-0 lead before going for eight runs in a seventh inning in which anything that could go wrong for The Rock did.
Offensively, SRU had just five players reach base: Bell and Walters had doubles,
Christian Porterfield singled while
Ty Zimmerman and
Matt Mandes both drew walks.
Alex Pantuso (0-1) allowed just two runs on four walks and two hits through the opening four innings, but had a troublesome fifth inning in which he gave up two home runs and four runs total before leaving the game for
Josh Coleman, who recorded the final out of the inning. Pantuso had six strikeouts in his fourth start of the season.
Coleman left the game after 1.1 innings and one run allowed.
Chris Anastas and
Devon LaBarre both pitched in the seventh inning to close out the game for SRU. Andrew Gernert had eight strikeouts in six innings and Shane Dressler drove in four runs to pace West Chester.
GAME TWO: Slippery Rock 17 – West Chester 1Game two was a complete reversal of the opener as SRU dominated every facet of the game en route to its second highest scoring output of the season.
Jon Anderson (2-1) turned in yet another great outing. He shutdown WCU's high-powered offense with seven strikeouts and only one run allowed on three hits in the third complete game of his career. Anderson has held opponents to one run in three of his four starts this season.
The Rock's bats were electric in the nightcap. Slippery Rock scored at least one run in six of seven innings of a game that was never in doubt and finished with 20 hits and a season-high four home runs. All nine Rock starters had at least one hit.
Bell had arguably his best game in a Rock uniform. He was 4-for-5 with two runs, two home runs and seven RBI. Walters and
Frankie Jezioro were both 3-for-5. Walters added three runs scored and one RBI while Jezioro drove in two runs and hit his second home run of the year.
Zimmerman (2-for-4),
Jordan Faretta (2-for-4),
Mitchell Wood (2-for-5) and
Preston Falascino (2-for-4) all turned in multi-hit performances as well. Faretta drove in runs on both of his hits, one of which being his first home run of the season. Zimmerman, who served as SRU's leadoff hitter, scored three runs.
Eddy Albertson took the loss for West Chester after allowing five runs on six hits and two walks.
Slippery Rock and West Chester will play a nine-inning game 9 a.m. Thursday at the Lake Myrtle Sports Complex in what will be the fourth meeting between the two teams this season.
