JOHNSTOWN, Pa. - The Slippery Rock University baseball team was eliminated from the 2018 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Tournament following a 5-4 loss to Bloomsburg University on Friday at Point Stadium in Johnstown, Pennsylvania.
 
The Rock and Huskies traded the lead all game, but Bloomsburg was able to pull off the victory with back-to-back doubles in the bottom of the ninth. The loss drops The Rock's record to 30-19 on the season overall while Bloomsburg improves to 31-17.
 
Slippery Rock will now wait until Sunday night when the NCAA announces the national tournament field to see if its season is over or not. The NCAA grants automatic berths to the conference champions from the PSAC and the Mountain East Conference while also awarding at-large tournament berths to the next five highest ranked teams from the Atlantic Region.
 
SRU was ranked seventh in the most recent Atlantic Region rankings released on May 9. However, Seton Hill University was ranked eighth and is still alive in the PSAC Tournament.
 
Slippery Rock possess a strong postseason resume that includes a win over West Chester University, the top ranked team in the region, as well as victories over fellow ranked teams Seton Hill (two), Mercyhurst University (two) and Gannon University (one).
 
Christian Porterfield led The Rock's efforts against Bloomsburg with a huge performance that saw the senior catcher go 3-for-4 with one home run, four RBI, one run scored and one double. Tyler Walters was 2-for-4 with two runs as well while Frankie Jezioro, Kyle Wise and Ray Scala accounted for The Rock's other three hits.
 
Ryan Tapp had a great outing against a stout Bloomsburg lineup. In six innings, he scattered four runs on four hits and three walks while striking out five. Tanner Stanz and Wyatt Daugherty closed out the game for SRU.
 
In the first inning, Slippery Rock took advantage of a Bloomsburg fielding error and a Walters single to put runners on first and second for Porterfield who in turn delivered a shot over the left field wall to give The Rock an early 3-0 lead.
 
The Huskies shaved one run off SRU's early lead with a score of their own in the first before going on to tie the game on a two-run double by Shane Woelfel in the third inning followed by another run-scoring double by Nate Krizan for the go-ahead run in the fourth.

Undeterred, Slippery Rock fought back in the sixth when Walters slugged a triple off the left field wall before scoring the game-tying run on a double up the middle by Porterfield. The triple was Walters' second of the tournament. Porterfield made it to third base on a ground out by Joe Campagna, but BU starting pitcher Chad Cooperman was able to strand him by registering a strikeout and fly out to end the inning with the game tied at 4-4.
 
Wise led off the seventh with a rocket single and advanced to second on a successful sacrifice bunt by Scala to put the potential winning run in scoring position, but Cooperman once again danced out of trouble to keep Wise at second and the frame.
 
After six great innings from Tapp, Stanz came on in the seventh and threw 1.1 scoreless innings while striking out three batters. He exited the game in the bottom of the eighth with one out and a runner on third base in favor of Daugherty (3-5), who successfully navigated around the tight jam to hold the runner at third and get out of the inning with the tie still intact.
 
Slippery Rock appeared poised to push the potential winning run across home plate in the top of the ninth when Jezioro barely missed a home run that hit off the top of the wall in center field, resulting in a stand-up triple. However, two batters later Jezioro would be thrown out attempting to take home on a ball hit in the infield by Scala as The Rock's scoring threat was once again halted.
 
Bloomsburg went on to seize its opportunity with back-to-back doubles by Ryan Shiffer and Krizan in the bottom of the ninth. Krizan's double plated Shiffer to give Bloomsburg the tightly contested one-run win.
 
Bloomsburg relief pitcher Trey Hinkle (6-1) earned the win after holding The Rock without a run for two innings. Cooperman pitched seven innings, allowing four runs on seven hits while striking out eight. Krizan finished 2-for-4 with two RBI.
 
Bloomsburg will now play Millersville 9:30 a.m. Saturday.
 
The 2018 NCAA Tournament Selection Show will be streamed live on NCAA.com 10 p.m. Sunday.



To stay up to date with all that happens at The Rock, follow our official athletic communication accounts on Twitter (@Rock_Athletics), Facebook (RockAthletics), Instagram (RockAthletics) and Snapchat (@RockAthletics).