JOHNSTOWN, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University baseball team's time at the 2017 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Tournament came to an end Friday evening in a 5-4 loss to Shippensburg University at Point Stadium in Johnstown, Pennsylvania.
 
With the loss, Slippery Rock's record falls to 27-20 on the season. The loss also likely ends SRU's year as it was ranked eighth in the Atlantic Region prior to the contest and only the top seven in the final regional rankings qualify for the NCAA Tournament.
 
Shippensburg improves to 30-21-1 on the year with the win and will advance in the PSAC Tournament to play Seton Hill University Saturday at 9:30 a.m.
 
Slippery Rock led 1-0 for the opening three innings before back-to-back two-run frames by the Raiders in the fourth and fifth gave Shippensburg a three-run edge that SRU could never quite overcome.   
 
Wyatt Daugherty, who was making his first collegiate start, gave The Rock 4.1 innings, allowing four runs on eight hits and one walk to go with a pair of strikeouts. Josh Coleman came on in relief of Daugherty and scattered one run over 3.1 innings of solid relief work that included five strikeouts. Andrew Null and James Divosevic pitched the final 1.1 innings out of the SRU bullpen.
 
Divosevic also accounted for three of The Rock's 10 hits in addition to driving in one run. Christian Porterfield walked twice and drove in one run via a first-inning double. Tyler Walters' lone hit of the afternoon was a towering home run, his 11th of the season.
 
Matt Mandes was 2-for-4 with one run scored. Luca Fuscardo, Kyle Wise and Carson Kessler all recorded hits as well to round out Slippery Rock's top performers.
 
The Rock's first run of the day came in the first inning. Fuscardo shot a double down the left field line, advanced to third base on a Walters fly out and finally scored on a double by Porterfield to put The Rock up 1-0 after one inning of play.
 
Slippery Rock combined solid pitching and a couple of quality plays in the field by its corner outfielders to maintain its one-run lead until the fourth inning when Shippensburg stormed back with two runs to take a 2-1 advantage. Shippensburg added to its lead with two more runs in the fifth, forcing Daugherty from the game in favor of Coleman.
 
SRU put runners on first and second in the bottom of the fifth with back-to-back singles by Divosevic and Mandes, who eventually scored on a Shippensburg fielding error to cut its deficit to just two runs at 4-2.
 
Shippensburg added what turned out to be a crucial insurance run in the eighth before The Rock came to life in the bottom of the inning when Walters crushed a ball over the left field wall for a solo home run to make it a 5-3 contest.
 
Porterfield followed the home run with a walk and Kessler produced an infield single to put runners on first and second with two outs. However, the rally was thwarted when Shippensburg starting pitcher Andy Crum forced a lineout to left field to end the threat.
 
Down to its final two outs in the ninth, Slippery Rock was given life when Mandes hit a one-out double and proceeded to score on an RBI-single by Divosevic to cut Shippensburg's lead to only one run. However, Shippensburg relief pitcher Mike Hope got out of the jam by recording consecutive outs to help the Raiders escape with the 5-4 win.
 
Crum (5-3) got the win for Shippensburg. He went eight innings, giving up three runs on eight hits and two walks. Cash Gladfelter was 3-for-5 with one run scored for the Raiders.