CARY, N.C. - The Slippery Rock University baseball team pushed its winning streak to four games with a 5-4, 12-inning victory against Franklin Pierce University Sunday at the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary, North Carolina.
 
Slippery Rock's current winning streak has increased its record in 2019 to 5-3. Franklin Pierce's loss, its second of the season to Slippery Rock, drops its record to 5-3.
 
Six of The Rock's eight games this season have been decided by two runs or less. Sunday's game marked The Rock's longest contest since, coincidently enough, another 5-4 12-inning win against Saginaw Valley State University on March 7, 2015.
 
The win also puts Rock head coach Jeff Messer on the cusp of history as he is now just one win away from becoming the 18th coach in NCAA Division II history to reach 1,000 career wins.
 
Sunday was also a history-making day for SRU closer Wyatt Daugherty, who earned his 17th career save to break the school record of 16 formally held by John Kovalik (2011-14). In addition to being a program record, Daugherty's 17 saves are also tied for the seventh most in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference history.
 
As has been the case for the first two of The Rock's spring break games, the back end of SRU's bullpen once again excelled Sunday as the combination of Jaret Peterson, Derek Boben, Joe Dombrowski, Luke Trueman, JT Wolke (1-0) and Daugherty allowed just one run over the final seven innings. Wolke earned the win, his first on the collegiate level, after pitching a scoreless 11th inning
 
Joe Campagna accounted for two of The Rock's six hits against Franklin Pierce. Campagna, who also had one RBI, has hit safely in all eight games for The Rock this season. Abraham Mow went 1-for-3 and drove in a pair of runs while Ray Scala scored one run and posted the game-winning RBI.
 
Leadoff hitter Frankie Jezioro scored two runs, stole one base, hit a triple and drew one walk. Jon Kozarian rounded out The Rock's top hitters with one hit, one walk and two runs scored.
 
Local product Ricky Mineo, a Slippery Rock High School graduate, got his first collegiate start. Mineo gave The Rock 3.2 innings pitched, allowing two unearned runs on four hits and three walks to go with two strikeouts. Fellow freshman Andy McClymonds made his collegiate debut when he came on for Mineo to record the final out in the fourth and the first out in the fifth before giving way to Peterson.
 
With the game tied 2-2, Slippery Rock tacked on a pair of runs in the fifth inning via back-to-back RBI-singles by Campagna and Mow to give The Rock a 4-2 lead. However, the Ravens slowly went to work on cutting into SRU's lead with one run in the bottom of the fifth followed by a game-tying score in the eighth.
 
Both pitching staffs took over following the eighth inning as SRU and FPU combined for just three baserunners over the next three innings to send the game into the 12th still tied 4-4.
 
The top of the 12th inning appeared to be headed to another scoreless frame for The Rock until Jezioro earned a two-out walk to give SRU hope. Jezioro promptly stole second base and then scored when Scala placed a single through the right side of the infield to push Slippery Rock ahead of Franklin Pierce, 5-4, before the Ravens could get out of the inning.
 
Franklin Pierce attempted to counter in the bottom half of the inning by putting runners on first and second against Daugherty with only one out, but just as he has done so many other times before in his career, Daugherty closed the game out for The Rock and sealed the win by recording consecutive outs to strand the tying and go-ahead runs on base.
 
Ryan Covelle gave up four runs on four hits and struck out six batters in the no-decision start for the Ravens. Reliever Danny Gracia (0-1) pitched the final three innings with four strikeouts and the game-deciding run allowed. Brad Roberto drove in two runs in the loss for FPU.
 
Slippery Rock is off Monday before it continues its time at the USA Baseball National Training Complex 3 p.m. Tuesday against Saint Thomas Aquinas.
 
 

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