JOHNSTOWN, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University baseball team lost to Bloomsburg University, 13-7, on the first day of the 2018 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Tournament at Point Stadium in Johnstown, Pennsylvania.
 
Slippery Rock will now face the loser of Wednesday afternoon's contest between Seton Hill University and West Chester University in an elimination game Thursday at 9:30 a.m.
 
The Rock's offense was solid against the Huskies, but SRU couldn't overcome an off day on the mound that saw Slippery Rock surrender 12 walks and 14 hits.
 
PSAC West Athlete of the Year Tyler Walters led Slippery Rock on Wednesday. The senior finished a double away from the cycle on a 4-for-5 afternoon that included three runs scored and three RBI. His home run was his PSAC-best 14th of the season.
 
Christian Porterfield also slugged one home run with two RBI, pushing his team-high total to 47 in 2018. Joe Campagna and Abraham Mow tallied two hits apiece as well with Campagna also walking once.
 
Luca Fuscardo, Mitchell Wood, Frankie Jezioro, Ray Scala and Kyle Wise all collected one hit each on a day in which SRU registered 14 as a team. Fuscardo's hit drove in one run for his 44th RBI of the year.
 
Alex Pantuso (7-3) took the loss on the mound for The Rock after giving up seven runs on six hits and six walks to go with six strikeouts over 4.0 innings of work. The quartet of Chris Anastas, Stephen McKee, Derek Boben and Donald Colucci Jr. combined to pitch the final five innings for SRU, allowing six runs on eight hits and six walks.
 
Bloomsburg's Austin Edgette hit a grand slam as part of a five-run second inning for the Huskies to set the tone for the afternoon. Slippery Rock fired back in the bottom of the frame with four runs of its own with the highlight being a three-run home run from Walters. However, The Rock's hopes for a comeback would be short lived as the Huskies went on to score four runs over the following three innings to push their lead out to 9-4.
 
Porterfield launched a two-run home run in the seventh, but Bloomsburg responded by closing the game with four runs between the eighth and ninth innings on the way to its six-run victory.
 
Edgette was 3-for-5 with a walk and four RBI for the Huskies. Bloomsburg starting pitcher Ashton Raines (7-2) went seven innings, scattering six runs on 11 hits and a pair of walks.
 
Trey Hinkle pitched the eighth and ninth innings for Bloomsburg; he gave up The Rock's seventh run of the day when Walters, who tripled earlier in the frame, scored on a wild pitch.
 
Wednesday's loss drops The Rock's record to 29-18 on the season overall while Bloomsburg improves to 30-16 with the win. The Huskies will play the winner of the previously mentioned Seton Hill – West Chester game on Thursday.
 
Prior to the game Anastas was named the 2018 PSAC Champion Scholar. The PSAC Champion Scholar award is given to the student-athlete with the top grade point average who is competing at the site of each of the PSAC's 23 team championship finals. Anastas is a two-time winner of the award.
 
Looking ahead to Thursday's potential opponents, Slippery Rock split a four-game series with Seton Hill earlier in the season while losing a 24-15 slugfest to West Chester in a nine-inning game.



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