INDIANA, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University baseball team earned a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division sweep at Indiana University (Pa.) on the road Saturday afternoon.
 
Slippery Rock recorded a 7-3 win in game one followed by a convincing 13-4 victory in game two for the sweep. The 13 runs scored in game two are tied for the fourth most runs scored by SRU in a game this season.
 
The wins improve The Rock's record to 21-11 on the year overall and 14-4 in the PSAC West. Indiana drops to 10-20 overall and 7-11 in league contests.
 
The Rock's high-powered offense, which is now averaging 7.3 runs per game, was led by Christian Porterfield, who went a combined 5-for-8 over the doubleheader with four runs scored, two home runs and seven RBI. Tyler Merigliano also had a strong doubleheader, going 4-for-7 over the two games with one run scored and three RBI.
 
Saturday's display of power was just the latest for Porterfield, who is in the midst of a career-year in which he is batting .367 with 10 home runs and 36 RBI.
 
GAME ONE: Slippery Rock 7 – Indiana 3
Slippery Rock exploded for five runs in the second inning of game one to put the contest away early on the way to its four-run victory.
 
With Joe Campagna already on first after being hit by a pitch to lead off the second, Luca Fuscardo crushed his third home run of the season to give SRU a lead it would never relinquish. Slippery Rock went on to plate three more runs before IUP starting pitcher Colin Claus (2-4) could get out of the inning by way of RBI from Abraham Mow, Ray Scala and Porterfield.
 
While SRU later added a pair of runs in the fourth, The Rock's big second inning would have been more than enough for starting pitcher Alex Pantuso (5-2) who threw five scoreless innings before IUP was eventually able to avoid the shutout with three runs in the sixth.
 
However, any thoughts of a late Crimson Hawks rally were quickly put to rest as reliever Wyatt Daugherty came on for Pantuso to get out of the sixth followed by a perfect seventh inning to finish off the 7-3 win.
 
Pantuso recorded seven strikeouts while scattering six hits and three walks over 5.2 innings of solid work. Daugherty notched a pair of strikeouts in his 1.1 innings of flawless relief.
 
SRU totaled eight hits in the opener. Merigliano went 2-for-4 and Kyle Wise was 2-for-3 in what were The Rock's only multi-hit outings in game one. Both players scored one run apiece as well.
 
Tyler Walters, Mow, Porterfield and Fuscardo had one hit apiece with Walters also walking twice and stealing two bases to round out SRU's top performers.
 
GAME TWO; Slippery Rock 13 – Indiana 4
Much like game one, the back half of Saturday's twin bill was never in doubt as Slippery Rock produced six runs in the first inning and never looked back en route to the 13-4 win.
 
Porterfield registered one of the top offensive performances of his career in game two. The senior catcher went 4-for-5 with three runs scored two home runs and six RBI. Amazingly enough, his six RBI were not a career-high; he drove in seven runs earlier in the season in SRU's 15-9 win against Shippensburg.
 
One of Porterfield's home runs was a grand slam, the third of his collegiate career. He is the only Rock player with three grand slams in a career since the 2003 season.
 
The trio of Campagna, Merigliano and Frankie Jezioro all had two-hit, one-walk outings in game two as well with Merigliano driving in three runs and Jezioro stealing his team-best 11th base of the season.
 
Walters and Fuscardo accounted for The Rock's other two hits in the night cap. Walters also stole his third base of the day, and eighth of the year. Mow, Matt Mandes and Walters, the top of SRU's batting order, combined for six walks.
 
Matt Gordon made sure not to waste The Rock's big offensive outing. He turned in a complete game performance in which he struck out four batters and allowed just one earned run to improve to 5-0 on the season. Gordon, who finished last year with a 7.13 ERA, leads SRU in ERA 2018 at 2.08.
 
The Rock's six-run first inning featured Porterfield's grand slam as well as RBI by Merigliano and Mandes. SRU finished off the victory by plating two runs in the fourth, three in the fifth and two more in the sixth. Indiana tallied two-run frames in the fourth and fifth, but never seriously threatened The Rock's sizeable lead.
 
Slippery Rock will look to finish off the series sweep with two more wins against the Crimson Hawks Sunday at Jack Critchfield Park. First pitch of game one is set for 1 p.m.



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