SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. - Behind one of its best offensive performances of the season, the Slippery Rock University baseball team earned a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division doubleheader split with Gannon University Monday afternoon at Jack Critchfield Park.
 
Slippery Rock (9-30, 4-16 PSAC West) took game one, 22-5, before losing the nightcap to the Golden Knights (25-12, 13-7 PSAC West), 7-2. The 22 runs matched SRU's single-game season-high; Slippery Rock also scored 22 runs against Pitt-Johnstown earlier in the year.
 
SRU was led on the day by the quartet of Ty Zimmerman, Frankie Jezioro, Alex Bell and Preston Falascino.
 
Over the doubleheader, Zimmerman combined to go 5-for-7 with five runs scored, two RBI, one home run, two doubles and a pair of walks from The Rock's leadoff position. Jezioro scored a total of four runs in an effort that also included five hits and two RBI.
 
Bell was 4-for-8 with three runs, six RBI, one double and one home run. Bell's homer was his 10th of the season. Falascino had his best doubleheader since conference play started with three hits, one home run and six RBI.
 
GAME ONE: Slippery Rock 22 – Gannon 5
Slippery Rock exploded for 14 runs in the first inning to put the opener away early on. The inning saw SRU bat around twice, produce 11 hits, four of which were home runs as well as three walks.
 
Bell, Zimmerman, Falascino and Kyle Wise all hit home runs in the inning with Falascino's being a grand slam. Additionally, Bell, Falascino and Tyler Walters each tallied two hits in the frame.
 
Slippery Rock went on to add three more runs in the second via an RBI-single from Jezioro that scored Zimmerman, who led off the inning with a double, followed by a two-run homer by Walters. SRU concluded its offensive barrage with one run in the fourth and four more in the sixth off of a two-run single by Bell and a Falascino run-scoring single en route to the 22-5 triumph.
 
With a 14-run cushion, starting pitcher Matt Gordon (4-3) cruised the mound. He scattered four runs over six innings of work. Other than a three-run second inning, the Golden Knights could never constantly hit Gordon. Relief pitcher Josh Coleman entered the game to close out the game in the seventh.

Six Rock starters had multi-hit games. Zimmerman and Jezioro led the charge with matching four-hit outings. Zimmerman scored five runs, drove in two more and had three extra-base hits (two doubles and one home run). 
 
Bell went 3-for-5 with three runs scored, one home run and six RBI. Walters matched Bell with a three-hit game of his own to go with three runs, three RBI and his team-leading 11th home run of the year.
 
Rounding out SRU's top producers were Falascino and Wise. Falascino drove in five runs on three hits while Wise had two hits, scored two runs, drove in two batters and walked once.
 
GAME TWO: Gannon 7 – Slippery Rock 2
Slippery Rock was unable to carry over its momentum from the opener into game two as Gannon broke a 0-0 tie with one run in the fourth followed by a five-run fifth inning that proved too much for SRU to overcome in its 7-2 loss.
 
SRU got on the scoreboard in the fifth inning thanks to a sacrifice fly RBI by Falascino that brought in Andrew Null, who tripled to centerfield to start the inning. However, Gannon got the run back to open the seventh and Slippery Rock was only able to register one score in the bottom half of the inning to end the game.
 
Matt Mandes had two of Slippery Rock's seven hits in game two and now has five hits in his last four games played. Null, Bell, Jezioro, Zimmerman and James Divosevic all had hits as well. Jezioro's hit brought in SRU's run in the seventh.
 
Starting pitcher Shawn Holman (0-4) was solid for The Rock in his four innings pitched; the only run he allowed was unearned. Divosevic came on for Holman in fifth and pitched two-thirds of an inning, allowing five runs only two of which were earned. In addition to his triple at the plate, Null gave up just one run in 2.1 innings of relief work in place of Divosevic.
 
Slippery Rock returns to action with a non-conference doubleheader 2 p.m. Tuesday against Shepherd University at Jack Critchfield Park.