BUTLER, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University baseball team finished off a four-game Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division sweep of Clarion University with two more wins Monday at Kelly Automotive Park in Butler, Pennsylvania.
 
Slippery Rock withstood late charges in both games to come away with 8-6 and 9-4 victories. The wins improve The Rock's record to 13-7 on the season overall and 6-2 in the PSAC West. The losses drop Clarion's record to to 6-17 overall and 1-7 in league games.
 
Kyle Wise led The Rock's offense Monday night. The senior outfielder went a combined 5-for-6 with three runs scored, five RBI, one home run and one walk. Wise's home run was his second of the year.
 
Mitchell Wood increased his hitting streak to 14 games with a 4-for-7 day that included two RBI, one run and two stolen bases. Wood is now hitting a team-best .386 on the year with nine RBI and four stolen bases.
 
Leadoff hitter Abraham Mow posted home runs in each end of Monday's doubleheader in addition to scoring four runs and waling three times. The two-home run outing increased Mow's season total to three.
 
GAME ONE: Slippery Rock 8 – Clarion 6
Slippery Rock jumped out to a seven-run lead before Clarion rallied back with six runs over the final two innings in The Rock's eventual 8-6 victory.
 
For a second straight start, Chris Anastas (3-0) was great on the mound for The Rock. He went six innings, striking out a career-high nine batters while allowing just one unearned run on four hits while throwing an efficient 84 pitches. In his last two starts, Anastas has allowed two runs in 11 innings while striking out 16.
 
Wood and Wise paced The Rock's offense with matching three-hit, two-RBI games. Luca Fuscardo also produced a pair of hits, including a triple, to go with two runs scored.
 
Mow launched one home run with Joe Campagna, Frankie Jezioro and Matt Mandes all driving in runs as well in the victory. Wood, Jezioro and Tyler Walters each recorded a stolen base. Jezioro has now swiped a team-best nine bases in 2018.
 
Mow turned on the first pitch of the game and crushed it far over the left field fence for a leadoff home run that set the tone for the rest of the game.
 
Wise made it a 2-0 contest in the second inning when he brought in Fuscardo, who singled earlier in the inning and advanced to second on a Jezioro groundout. SRU proceeded to plate two more runs in the third inning via RBI from Wood and Campagna.
 
Already leading by four runs, The Rock pushed its lead to 6-0 in the fourth inning when Mandes came through with a run-scoring single that plated Jezioro followed later in the inning by another RBI-hit off of Mow's bat.
 
SRU closed out the opener by adding one run in the fifth via another RBI-single by Wise to go with a final score in the seventh when Fuscardo, who tripled to lead off the frame, crossed home on a Jezioro groundout. To their credit, the Golden Eagles refused to quit as they pushed one run across in the sixth followed by a five-run seventh inning in the near comeback victory.
 
SRU's bullpen had a rough opener as Clarion scored five of its six runs in the seventh. Andrew Null gave up four runs after walking three batters and allowing one hit. He gave way to Alex Worthington, who surrendered one run on two walks and one hit. Tanner Stanz came on with two outs in the seventh to get SRU out of the game with the go-ahead run at the plate, pick up his first save of the year in the process.
 
Clarion's Dereck Pritchard took the loss on the mound for the Golden Eagles after giving up six runs on 10 hits and a walk over 3.1 innings.
 
GAME TWO: Slippery Rock 9 – Clarion 4
SRU once again jumped out to a lead it would never relinquish to finish off the series sweep of Clarion with a 9-4 win.
 
Seven of The Rock's nine batters tallied hits in game two with Wise leading the way on a 2-for-3, two-run, three-RBI, one-home run effort. Joe Campagna also had two hits and one walk. Mow scored a pair of runs drove in one more with a solo home run and walked twice.
 
Wood, Fuscardo, Christian Porterfield and Tyler Merigliano all had hits as well with Merigliano driving in two runs and Porterfield plating his 23rd RBI of the season.
 
Starting pitcher Ryan Tapp improved to 3-1 on the year with a solid outing that included nine strikeouts and four runs allowed in 4.2 innings pitched. Tapp was dominant for four innings before Clarion was able to get to him in the fifth. Wyatt Daugherty came on to toss 2.1 perfect innings. He has now allowed a run in his last three appearances.
 
Slippery Rock wasted little time getting its offense going in game two as The Rock was able to tally two runs in the opening inning thanks to a double steal in which Wood took second and Mow slid safely into home followed by an RBI-single to right field by Porterfield that scored Wood.
 
SRU maintained its two-run lead over the next two innings before exploding for five runs in the fourth by way of back-to-back two-run hits from Merigliano and Wise with a bases-loaded sacrifice fly by Walters capping off the big frame.
 
As was the case in game one, Clarion wouldn't go away. Trailing 7-0, the Golden Eagles answered back with four runs to chase Tapp from the game in favor of Daugherty with runners on first and second and two outs in the fifth inning. Daugherty proceeded to get out of the jam thanks to Walters, who threw out Max Mari attempting to steal second.
 
Any thoughts of a Clarion comeback were short-lived as The Rock answered right back in the sixth inning with back-to-back home runs by Wise and Mow to push SRU's lead back out to five runs at 9-4. Daugherty put the game away with four strikeouts and no runs allowed over his final two innings pitched to secure the SRU win.
 
Chance Miranda fell to 0-3 for Clarion after giving up seven runs on six hits and five walks in three innings of work.
 
Slippery Rock will now shift its focus to a four-game series against Pitt-Johnstown. The Rock and Mountain Cats will play a doubleheader Friday in Johnstown followed by two games Saturday at Jack Critchfield Park. First pitch of game one on both days is set for 1 p.m.


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