DINWIDDIE, Va. – The Slippery Rock University baseball team split a doubleheader against defending Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference champions West Chester University Saturday at the Dinwiddie Invitational in Dinwiddie, Virginia.
 
After dropping game one to the Rams, 9-1, Slippery Rock rallied back to take game two, 2-1, behind timely hitting from Luca Fuscardo and great performances on the mound by Preston Falascino and Shawn Holman. Fuscardo was one of two Rock players, along with Joe Campagna, to record hits in both games Saturday.

The doubleheader split combined with The Rock's opening-day win against East Stroudsburg gives SRU an overall record of 2-1 on the young season.
 
GAME ONE: West Chester 9 – Slippery Rock 1
West Chester scored three runs in the top of the first inning of the day's opener and never looked back in an eight-run victory.
 
Already leading 3-0, West Chester broke the game open with five runs in the fourth inning followed by one more in the fifth to take a 9-0 lead. Slippery Rock avoided the shutout when Frankie Jezioro scored off of an error by West Chester catcher Corey Webb in the seventh.
 
Fuscardo, Campagna and Mitchell Wood accounted for Slippery Rock's three hits in the opener. Jezioro, who walked twice and stole a pair of bases as well. Tyler Walters, who was 0-for-2 with one walk, also stole a base.
 
In his first start in a Rock uniform, Tyler Markovic (0-1) allowed nine runs, five earned, on five hits and one walk while striking out one batter in 4.2 innings. Josh Coleman finished the game for SRU with 2.1 scoreless innings that included a pair of strikeouts.
 
Jon Fisher (1-0) threw a complete-game three-hitter for West Chester. Jared Melone went 2-for-4 with a pair of RBI to pace the Rams' offense.
 
GAME TWO: Slippery Rock 2 – West Chester 1
Preston Falascino (1-0) scattered six hits and one run over five innings before giving way to Shawn Holman, who was nearly perfect in two innings of relief work en route to the save, to help Slippery Rock earn the doubleheader split with a 2-1 game-two victory.
 
With the game tied at 0-0 in the third inning, Tyler Merigliano and Kyle Wise produced back-to-back singles to leadoff the frame. Luca Fuscardo promptly followed Wise with a two-run single to give The Rock an early 2-0 lead. The two runs turned out to be more than enough for the duo of Falascino and Holman.
 
Falascino stranded one runner in the third inning to maintain SRU's 2-0 lead, but WCU eventually broke up his shutout bid with and RBI-single in the fourth by Joe Sheeran before he could get out of the frame. The Rams threatened again the fifth inning with a pair of two-out singles, but Falascino stranded the two Rams by forcing Melone to groundout to second base for the third out.
 
Holman took over for Falascino in the sixth and registered three quick outs following a leadoff double by Shane Dressler. Campagna singled to begin the seventh and Kyle Wise later walked to put two runners on base with two outs, but any thoughts of insurance runs by SRU were put to rest as WCU reliever Josh McClain forced Fuscardo to groundout to end the inning.
 
Holman once again gave up a leadoff hit to start the seventh. However, he quickly regrouped to record three straight outs, including a game-ending double play, and earn his first save at Slippery Rock.
 
Fuscardo finished game two 1-for-4 with two RBI. He has driven in four runs in his first three games at SRU. The quartet of Jezioro, Campagna, Merigliano and Christian Porterfield and all went 1-for-3. Wise also had one hit in addition to his aforementioned walk.

Mike Cipolla (0-1) was the pitcher of record in game two for West Chester. He allowed six hits and six runs while striking out five Rock batters in six innings. Dressler and Nick Ward had two hits apiece at the plate for the Rams.
 
Slippery Rock will conclude its weekend at the Dinwiddie Invitational with a single nine-inning game against St. Thomas Aquinas Saturday at 1:30 p.m. at Shepherd Stadium in Collisional Heights, Virginia.


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