ERIE, Pa. - The Slippery Rock University baseball team split a pair of Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division road games Saturday against Mercyhurst University in Erie, Pennsylvania.
 
The Rock took the opener Saturday, 3-0, before losing game two, 6-2, to exit the weekend with a four-game series split against the Lakers.
 
Slippery Rock will enter the final week of the regular season with an 18-11 overall record and a 9-9 mark in the PSAC West. Saturday's results move Mercyhurst's record to 22-13 overall and 13-10 in league games.
 
The highlight of the day for The Rock came on the mound where Christian Seelhorst delivered a great game-one start as he and Andy McClymonds combined for SRU's first shutout of the season.
 
Offensively, Koby Bubash and Luke Trueman both collected hits in each game. Trueman scored two runs and launched his third home run of 2021. Bubash went 4-for-8 with a run scored and a double in three games against Mercyhurst this weekend.
 
GAME ONE: Slippery Rock 3 – Mercyhurst 0
Seelhorst stymied the Mercyhurst offense for the majority of the opener while The Rock's bats supplied him with all the run-support he needed in a 3-0 shutout victory.
 
Seelhorst gave SRU six strong innings of work as he scattered three hits and three walks while striking out five batters in what was his longest outing of the season.
 
He left the game in the seventh inning in favor of McClymonds after walking the leadoff runner. McClymonds proceeded to eventually close out the game by stranding two runners on base with a game-ending strikeout of Luke Baranchak.
 
The trio of Trueman, Jon Kozarian and Connor Hamilton supplied SRU's offense in game one. With the contest scoreless in the third inning, Bubash doubled to leadoff the frame and was brought home two batters later when Kozarian drove a double down the left field line for the game's first runs.
 
Hamilton then plated Abraham Mow, who reached base on an error and moved to third on Kozarian's double, via an RBI-groundout to give SRU a 2-0 advantage.
 
Trueman added to The Rock's lead in the sixth inning when he blasted a two-out home run for an additional insurance run en route to the 3-0 victory.
 
The victory improved Seelhorst's record to 3-2 on the season while McClymonds picked up his team-leading fourth save of 2021.
 
Kozarian tallied the only multi-hit game by either team in the opener via a 2-for-3, one-RBI showing that included a double and a stolen base in addition to one walk. Trueman, Bubash and Alex Robenolt accounted for SRU's other hits. Mow and Nick Reynosa also reached base on walks.
 
Brett Whiteman (3-1) took the loss for Mercyhurst after allowing three runs on five hits and three walks over 6.1 innings. Jack Elliott had a double to lead MU's offense.
 
GAME TWO: Mercyhurst 6 – Slippery Rock 2
Slippery Rock was unable to capture the doubleheader sweep as the Lakers took advantage of a four-run fifth inning on the way to a 6-2 split-saving victory.
 
Trailing 1-0 entering the fifth inning, Trueman hit a leadoff single and promptly advanced to third base by way of a Colin Cain sacrifice and a wild pitch by Mercyhurst's Nathan Holt. Trueman would score off of a passed ball to pull The Rock even with Mercyhurst at 1-1.
 
However, the Lakers answered back in the bottom of the frame with four runs to take a commanding 5-1 lead. Evan Knaus hit a one-out home run in the sixth inning, but Michael Krauza, who came on for Holt for the final out in the fifth, regrouped from Knaus' homer by recording four consecutive outs over the remainder of the game to seal the Mercyhurst win.
 
Mow went 2-for-3 in game two while Knaus, Trueman and Bubash all chipped in hits as well with Truean and Knaus scoring one run apiece. Knaus' home run was his second of the series.
 
McClymonds (4-1) was the pitcher of record for The Rock. He went 4.1 innings, allowing five runs on six hits and a walk to go with four strikeouts.
 
JT Wolke relieved McClymonds in fifth with two runners on base and after Mercyhurst had already scored twice in the inning. Both runners eventually scored before Wolke was able to record the final two outs of the inning. Drew Delaney pitched the sixth inning for The Rock, giving up one score; an Elliott home run.
 
Krauza (8-1) picked up his second win of the series with three strikeouts and one run allowed out of the Lakers' bullpen. At the plate, Philip Ferranti drove in two runs.
 
With a PSAC Tournament bid still on the line, Slippery Rock now turns its attention to a busy final week of the regular season that will see SRU play 10 games starting with a doubleheader May 3 against Clarion University at Jack Critchfield Park.
 
SRU took three of four games from Clarion in non-conference competition earlier in the year. First pitch of game one against the Golden Eagles is set for 1 p.m.



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