HOLLY SPRINGS, N.C. – The Slippery Rock University baseball team recorded a doubleheader sweep of West Liberty University Saturday at Ting Park in Holly Springs, North Carolina.

SRU took the opener 14-4 before coming back for a nightcap win, 3-1. The wins improve The Rock's record to 2-1 on the season while West Liberty falls to 0-2 with the losses.
 
Slippery Rock earned the sweep thanks in no small part to pair of solid outings from starting pitchers Ryan Tapp and Matt Gordon. SRU's bats also bounced back from a shaky season-opener to produce 17 runs and 20 hits Saturday.
 
GAME ONE: Slippery Rock 14 – West Liberty 4
After being limited to two hits in a 2-0 shutout against Shippensburg a day ago, Slippery Rock exploded for 14 runs on 14 hits and four walks in its 10-run game-one victory against the Hilltoppers.
 
West Liberty struck first with a run in the first inning, but the rest of the game belonged to The Rock as SRU countered with five runs in the second inning and never looked back en route to the 14-4 win.
 
SRU tacked on two runs in fifth inning and seven more in the sixth while WLU managed to score three runs over the final two innings, but never came close to threatening The Rock's lead.
 
Tapp (1-0), a transfer from UNC Asheville, was dominant in his first appearance for The Rock. The powerful hurler notched 12 strikeouts over six innings while allowing just three runs, two of which were earned, on six hits. Tapp's 12 strikeouts are the most in a single-game by a pitcher in the Atlantic Region this season. Tanner Stanz also made his first appearance on the mound for SRU Saturday, allowing one run on two hits and a walk in one inning of work in relief of Tapp.
 
The top three spots in Slippery Rock's batting order combined to go 7-for-11 with six runs scored, three home runs and nine RBI. Leadoff hitter Luca Fuscardo went 4-for-4 with two runs, one home run and one stolen base. No. 2 hitter Kyle Wise followed suit with a 2-for-3, two-run, three-RBI, one-home run performance while Tyler Walters rounded out the trio's effort with one home run and a pair of RBI.
 
Walters is now just four home runs shy of breaking the current SRU career record of 40 held by Nate Thimons. Additionally, he is eight home away from passing Kutztown's Shayne Houck to become the PSAC all-time home run leader.
 
Frankie Jezioro and Tyler Merigliano both recorded multi-hit games in the opener also. Jezioro was 3-for-4 with two runs, three RBI, a double and a stolen base. Merigliano tallied two hits in four at-bats to go with one run, one RBI and one double.
 
Logan Grimm (0-1) surrendered five runs in four innings on the mound for West Liberty in the loss.
 
GAME TWO: Slippery Rock 3 – West Liberty 1
Slippery Rock received one big inning from its bats then successfully relied on the dynamic pitching duo of Gordon (1-0) and Wyatt Daugherty (S-1) to cruise to a 3-1 sweep-clinching victory against the Hilltoppers in game two.
 
SRU scored all three of its runs in the second inning of game two. Christian Porterfield led off the frame with a walk and proceeded to advance to second on a Joe Campagna single. Jezioro then brought Porterfield home for the game's first run with an RBI-single. One batter later, Abraham Mow made his first collegiate hit a memorable one when he came through with a two-run base hit that put The Rock ahead 3-0.
 
From there on out the game belonged to Gordon and Daugherty. Gordon did not allow a WLU baserunner to get to second in the first three innings and even when West Liberty did threaten in the fourth and fifth innings he successfully navigated out of the jams by allowing just one blemish, an RBI-single by Coby Eckstein in the fourth inning, to maintain a 3-1 SRU lead.
 
Gordon gave way to Daugherty in the sixth and the junior reliever displayed why he was a 2017 first team All-PSAC West honoree. West Liberty loaded the bases with two outs in the sixth, but Daugherty staved off the Hilltoppers' comeback bid by striking out Dalton Davis to end the threat.
 
Daugherty walked two of the first three batters he faced in the seventh, but he was once again able to work out of the jam by coming through with a strikeout of Nolan Marcus and inducing a game-ending groundout by Ethan Estes.
 
Gordon scattered two hits and one run over five innings to go with three strikeouts in the win. Daugherty picked up his first save of the season by allowing no runs through two innings.
 
Campagna was the lone Rock player to rack up two hits in game two. Mow, Jezioro, Porterfield and Wise all had hits as well. Jezioro also stole a pair of bases in the win, giving him a total of three steals in the doubleheader.
 
Mitch Viakley took the loss for West Liberty after giving up six hits, four walks and three runs in 5.2 innings of work.
 
Slippery Rock will look to close out its opening weekend with a victory on Sunday against Shippensburg. First pitch from Ting Park is scheduled for 10 a.m.
 
 

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