SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. - The Slippery Rock University baseball team extended its winning streak to six games with an exciting doubleheader sweep against Frostburg State University Sunday at Jack Critchfield Park.

Sunday's sweep improved The Rock's record to 6-1 on the season. SRU's six wins represent its best seven-game start to a season since going 6-1 in 2015. Frostburg State exits the weekend at 2-6.  
 
SRU cruised to an 8-5 victory in game one and was able to stave off a late Frostburg State comeback bid in game two with a dramatic 13-12 eight-inning victory thanks to a walk-off hit by Abraham Mow.  
 As has been the case all season, the top of The Rock's batting order was once again outstanding Sunday.
 
Leadoff hitter Abraham Mow went 4-for-8 with three runs scored, one home run, five RBI, two walks and his aforementioned game-winning hit. Mow's home run was the 19th of his career, moving him into a tie with Frankie Jezioro (2016-19) for 10th place on The Rock's career ledger.
 
No. 2 hitter Jon Kozarian was virtually perfect on the day as he went a combined 5-for-7 over the doubleheader with five runs scored, one home run, three RBI and two doubles. Through seven games, Kozarian leads the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division in batting average at .591.
 
Connor Hamilton stretched his hitting streak to 15 games after finishing the afternoon 5-for-7 with four runs scored and two RBI. Three of his five hits went for doubles. Hamilton's hitting streak is tied with Mitchell Wood (2018) and Joe Campagna (2019) for the sixth longest streak at The Rock in the last 13 seasons.
 
Cleanup hitter Alex Robenolt rounded out The Rock's top contributors against Frostburg State with a 4-for-6 day at the plate that included one run scored and five RBI.
 
GAME ONE: Slippery Rock 8 – Frostburg State 5
Mow drove in three runs and starting pitcher Ricky Mineo (2-0) was once again sharp in an 8-5 victory for Slippery Rock in game one.
 
Fresh off of an 11-strikeout performance in his first start of the season, Mineo took the mound for the second time this season and scattered three runs on five hits and three walks over five innings while posting 10 more strikeouts en route to his second victory of the year.
 
Mow went 2-for-4 with one run, three RBI and a home run in the opener. Robenolt also drove in three runs while Hamilton and Nick Reynosa chipped in two hits apiece in the win.
 
Slippery Rock never trailed in game one as it scored in five of its six trips to the plate. With the game tied at 1-1, Mow drilled a double to left field that plated Reynosa and Evan Knaus to give SRU a two-run advantage it would never relinquish.
 
The Rock took an 8-3 lead into the seventh inning where FSU added two final runs before reliever Andy McClymonds ended the contest by striking out Justin Jimenez to preserve the three-run victory. McClymonds, who came on for Mineo in the sixth, gave up two runs while striking out a pair of batters in two innings pitched.
 
Hayden Ford (0-1) gave up five runs over four innings in the losing effort for Frostburg State.
 
GAME TWO: Slippery Rock 13 – Frostburg State (8 innings)
Slippery Rock led by as many nine runs and seemed poised to run away with a sweep-clinching victory before FSU rallied back to force extra innings in an eventual 13-12 win for SRU.
 
With The Rock in possession of a seemingly safe 10-1 lead, the Bobcats came alive in the late stages of game two by scoring 11 runs over the sixth and seventh innings.
 
FSU's rally started with a seven-run sixth as the Bobcats were able to get to Rock relievers JT Wolke and Travis Holman to trim SRU's advantage to just three runs before scoring four more times in the top of the seventh to take a 12-11 lead into the bottom of the frame.
 
With its collective backs against the wall, Slippery Rock's electric offense responded in fine fashion as Hamilton led off the bottom of the seventh with a double followed by an RBI-single from Robenolt which pulled SRU even with the Bobcats at 12-12 before relief pitcher Nate Vermillion was able to record three consecutive outs to strand the go-ahead run at second and force extra innings.
 
McClymonds, who entered the game in the seventh, was dominant in the eighth as he made quick work of FSU's batters with two strikeouts and a groundout to keep the contest tied.
 
With one out in the bottom of the eighth inning, Koby Bubash doubled to left field to set the stage for Mow. With one ball and two strikes, Mow promptly drove a ball down the left field line which easily allowed Bubash to score the game-winning run from second and send The Rock home with a hard-earned 13-12 victory.

 Slippery Rock churned out 21 hits in game two, its highest total in the last 49 games, with Kozarian leading the way on a 4-for-5, three-run, three-RBI, one-home run performance. Hamilton and Robenolt tallied three hits each while Mow, Bubash, Quentin Brown, Luke Trueman and Eddie Morris all posted two-hit games.
 
Morris came up big for The Rock in his collegiate debut as his two hits consisted of a double and his first career home run as part of a two-RBI day. Kozarian finished a triple shy of the cycle.
 
Starting pitcher Andrew Shivak was able to work around five walks to only give up one run in 4.1 innings of work while striking out six batters. In what was his second appearance of the day, McClymonds (1-0) earned his first win of the season after surrendering just one unearned run and striking out four in 1.2 innings pitched out of The Rock's bullpen.
 
Five different Frostburg State pitchers appeared in game two. Vermillion (0-1) was the pitcher of record for the Bobcats. He gave up two runs in 1.2 innings.
 
Slippery Rock will close out the non-conference portion of its 2021 schedule with a four-game series against Clarion University March 19-20 at Jack Critchfield Park. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m. on both days.
 
 


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