WASHINGTON, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University baseball team split a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division doubleheader with California (Pa.) Tuesday afternoon at CONSOL Energy Park in Washington, Pennsylvania.
 
Slippery Rock took game one, 3-2, in dramatic fashion thanks to a walk-off solo home run by Alex Bell. California avoided the doubleheader sweep with a 11-7 in game two.
 
Bell, who combined to go 3-for-7, with four runs, two RBI and two home runs over the two games, led slippery Rock on the day. Bell is now second for The Rock in home runs this season with a career-high nine.
 
GAME ONE: Slippery Rock 3 – California (Pa.) 2
Rock starter Matt Gordon worked around a runner on third with no outs in the top of the first and went on to throw three consecutive scoreless innings while The Rock's offense broke through in the second when with two outs, and Jordan Faretta already on base, Joe Campagna delivered a shot over the wall in left-center field to put SRU up 2-0.
 
California cut into The Rock's lead in the top of the fourth on an RBI-single to centerfield from Christian Webb that scored Danny McGrath from third. The Vulcans added their second run of the day the following inning off of a sacrifice fly by McGrath to make it a 2-2 game through five innings.
 
James Divosevic came on in relief of Gordon to start the sixth inning and registered two quick outs before Mick Fennell turned a shot to the gap in left-center into a triple. However, Divosevic recovered to produce the third out of the inning to maintain the tie. The Rock's top reliever went on to toss another scoreless inning in the seventh to give SRU's batters one final chance at ending the game in regulation.
 
Already ahead in the count 2-1, Bell, the leadoff hitter in the inning, sent the fourth pitch of the at-bat far over the left field fence for the walk-off home run. 
 
In addition to Bell and Campagna's home runs, The Rock received hits from Kyle Wise and Ty Zimmerman in game one.
 
Gordon went five innings in the no decision. He had one of his better starts of the season, allowing just two runs on three hits while also striking out two batters. Divosevic (1-2) earned the win after holding the Vulcans to one hit and no runs in two innings.
 
GAME TWO: California (Pa.) 11 – Slippery Rock 7
Slippery Rock pitchers Shawn Holman and Stephen McKee combined to hold the Vulcans hitless over the game's first 3.2 innings. However, seven California batters reached base via walks and two more off of fielding errors, some of which helped the Vulcans score one run in the opening inning.
 
Bell followed up on his late-game heroics in game one with another home run in the second inning of game two to erase the 1-0 Vulcan lead.
 
California went on break up the no-hitter with a run-scoring single by Chris Wastchak following a walk and stolen base by Fennell with two outs in the fourth inning to pull back ahead 2-1.
 
Slippery Rock responded by loading the bases with no outs in the bottom of the fourth inning and tied the game on a California fielding error. Matt Mandes then cleared the bases with a three-run triple down the right field line to give The Rock a 5-2 lead after four innings.
 
However, walks continued to pile up against Slippery Rock as the Vulcans scored one run in the fifth inning off of back-to-back walks, which were proceeded by two singles. Fennell added three more runs to give the Vulcans a 6-5 lead on a double before SRU was able to get out of the inning.
 
Not to be outdone, Slippery Rock took advantage of two California throwing errors en route to a two-run inning that sent SRU back up 7-6. The lead was short-lived as the Vulcans countered with five runs in a decisive sixth inning thanks in part to six Rock walks to give California an 11-7 lead it would never relinquish on the way to the win.
 
Bell, Tyler Walters and Frankie Jezioro all totaled two hits for The Rock in the nightcap with Bell scoring three times and Jezioro driving in a pair of runs. Mandes' three RBI were a team-high. 
 
Six Rock pitchers appeared in game two. Andrew Null (0-3) took the loss after allowing three runs over 0.2 innings pitched in middle relief.
 
Slippery Rock continues PSAC West competition with a home doubleheader Friday against Gannon University. First of game one pitch from Jack Critchfield Park is scheduled for 1 p.m.