BUTLER, Pa. – In a matchup featuring two of the top teams in the Atlantic Region, Slippery Rock University and Gannon University split a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division baseball doubleheader Friday at Kelly Automotive Park in Butler, Pennsylvania.
 
Slippery Rock won game one, 2-1, but Gannon took game two, 4-3, in eight innings. The split moves The Rock's record to 29-15 overall and 19-7 in the PSAC West. Gannon exits the day with an overall record of 28-16 and a league mark of 16-10.
 
SRU and Gannon entered Friday's games ranked sixth and seventh, respectively, in the Atlantic Region. The conference tournament champions from the PSAC and Mountain East Conference along with the next five highest teams in the final regional rankings will qualify for the NCAA Tournament.

Tyler Walters and Luca Fuscardo paced The Rock's bats on Friday. Walters went a combined 3-for-6 over the doubleheader with one home run and three RBI. Walters now has a PSAC-high 13 home runs this season. Fuscardo was 4-for-8 with two doubles an RBI and a run.
 
GAME ONE: Slippery Rock 2 – Gannon 1
The opener was a classic pitcher's duel between Slippery Rock's Alex Pantuso (7-2) and Gannon's Deven Judy (3-4).
 
Pantuso was dominant on the mound for The Rock. He allowed just one hit and one run over 5.1 innings of work while navigating around four walks. Friday's outing was the sixth time this season in which he allowed three runs or less.
 
Judy was equally as impressive in the complete-game loss. He surrendered two runs on six hits and one walk while striking out seven batters.
 
The difference in game one came in the bottom of the third inning. With one out, Fuscardo struck a double to bring Walters to the plate. The PSAC's all-time home run leader proceeded to drive a deep fly ball down the left field line that easily cleared the fence to put The Rock up 2-0.
 
The Golden Knights' best chance for a rally came in the sixth inning when Pantuso walked the bases loaded with no outs. He induced a groundball to third base that allowed Abraham Mow to throw home to record the force out. Following the out Pantuso was relived by Wyatt Daugherty, who recorded the final two outs while only giving up one run to keep The Rock ahead 2-1.
 
Daugherty walked one batter in the bottom of the seventh, but was successfully able to retire the final two batters to finish off the one-hitter and pick up his PSAC-high eighth save of the year.
 
Fuscardo went 2-for-3 with a double while Walters, Christian Porterfield, Joe Campagna and Ray Scala tallied one hit each with Walters' being the game-winning home run.
 
GAME TWO: Gannon 4- Slippery Rock 3 (Eight Innings)
Gannon avoided the doubleheader sweep with a narrow 4-3 eight-inning victory in game two.
 
The Golden Knights led The Rock 3-1 through three innings. Slippery Rock got one run back in the fourth when Kyle Wise led off the inning with a solo home run. SRU went on to even the game at 3-3 via a Fuscardo double down the right field line that plated Matt Mandes.
 
Matt Gordon, who was terrific all day in his seven innings pitched, worked around one hit in the seventh to maintain a 3-3 tie and give SRU a chance to post the game-winning run in the seventh.
 
However, SRU was unable to put a runner on base and the game headed to extra innings where Daugherty would make his second appearance of the day in the eighth.
 
Following a leadoff single in the eighth by Elijah Quiceno, Dom Mori was able to reach base when his attempted sacrifice bunt that resulted in a Rock fielding error to give the Golden Knights runners on first and second with no outs. Three batters later Ian Steighner delivered the eventual game-winning hit with an RBI-hit to right field.
 
Mandes led off the bottom of the eighth with a single, but Gannon's Cory Hedgedus recorded a strikeout and a game-ending double play following Mandes' hit to give Gannon the 4-3 win.
 
Hedgedus pitched two innings out of the Gannon bullpen to garner the win. Eric Sapp started for Gannon, allowing two runs on eight hits and three walks over 4.2 innings. Matt Yough also allowed one run in 1.1 innings pitched before giving way to Hegedus.
 
Gordon did not receive a decision after scattering three runs on 10 hits and one walk while notching seven strikeouts. Daugherty (3-4) took the tough-luck loss after giving up one unearned run in the eighth.
 
Fuscardo, Walters, Mandes and Scala combined for eight of The Rock's 11 hits in game two. Wise's home run was his third of the year. Fuscardo and Walters had one RBI apiece in the defeat.
 
Slippery Rock and the Golden Knights will close out their four-game series with a doubleheader Saturday in Erie, Pennsylvania. First pitch of game one is set for 1 p.m.
 



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