JOHNSTOWN, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University baseball team overcame a five-run deficit to defeat East Stroudsburg University, 9-6, Thursday afternoon on day two of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Tournament at Point Stadium in Johnstown, Pennsylvania.
Slippery Rock, which needed to win Thursday's game to stay alive in the tournament, will now play either Shippensburg or Mercyhurst on Thursday at 3:30 p.m.
With the win Slippery Rock's record improves to 27-19 on the year overall. East Stroudsburg exits the PSAC Tournament with an overall record of 26-21-1.
Slippery Rock trailed 6-1 after three and a half innings before storming back to score eight unanswered runs to extend its season for at least another day.
SRU recorded 16 hits over nine innings with the duo of
Tyler Walters and
James Divosevic leading the charge. Walters was 3-for-5 with three RBI and one triple while Divosevic went 3-for-4 with two runs scored, two RBI, a double and one walk.
The trio of
Kyle Wise,
Mitchell Wood and
Matt Mandes all recorded two hits as well with Wood and Mandes both driving in one run and scoring twice.
Christian Porterfield hit his ninth home run of the season, a game-tying shot in the fifth inning.
Matt Gordon got the start for Slippery Rock and received a no-decision after pitching five innings, allowing six runs on seven hits and two walks. Gordon was solid for the majority of his outing outside of a five-run second inning by the Warriors.
Preston Falascino improved to 8-2 on the year after providing a great performance in relief. He scattered just one hit and two walks over four scoreless innings to go with three strikeouts in the win. Falascino has only allowed three runs over his last 24.1 innings pitched.
Divosevic and
Luca Fuscardo led off the first inning with back-to-back hits on a single and double. With runners in scoring position, Walters grounded out to the short stop, allowing Divosevic to score and give The Rock an early 1-0 lead.
However, East Stroudsburg fired back with five runs in the second inning. With the bases loaded, Gordon hit one batter to bring in ESU's first run then Dylan Evert hit a grand slam to cap off the frame. Evert later scored on an RBI-double by Ian Allen in the fourth inning to push ESU's lead to 6-4.
Slippery Rock rallied back in the bottom half of the inning with a three-run frame. After
Carson Kessler and Wise delivered back-to-back hits to leadoff the inning, Wood, Mandes and Divosevic came through with back-to-back-to-back run-scoring hits to make it a 6-4 contest.
Fuscardo capped off the big inning by bringing in Mandes on a fielders choice to trim SRU's deficit to just one run after four innings of play. The Rock's rally continued in the fifth inning when Porterfield drove a pitch high over the left field wall for a game-tying solo home run.
Falascino entered the game in relief of Gordon to begin the sixth and threw a scoreless inning. The Rock's bats stayed hot in the bottom of the frame as Wood hit a leadoff double and later scored on a Divosevic single to give SRU a 7-6 lead.
Divosevic proceeded to score when Walters belted a triple to centerfield to give SRU a two-run cushion with a seventh unanswered run. Walters also gave The Rock another insurance run with an RBI-single in the eighth that plated Mandes, who singled earlier in the inning.
The three-run lead was more than enough for Falascino in the ninth, as the second team All-PSAC West honoree recorded the final three outs of the game with little trouble to complete The Rock's comeback victory.
