INSTITUTE, W. Va. – The Slippery Rock University baseball team remained undefeated in 2022 following a non-conference doubleheader sweep Friday at West Virginia State University.
 
SRU took the opener from the Yellow Jackets, 1-0, in seven innings before earning a 6-2 nine-inning victory over WVSU in game two.
 
The doubleheader sweep improved Slippery Rock's record to 6-0 on the season while West Virginia State falls to 5-4. SRU's six consecutive wins are tied for the fourth-best start to a season in program history. Only the 2013 (8), 2005 (8) and 1993 (7) Slippery Rock teams had longer winning streaks to start a season.
 
As was the case the case a week ago in Slippery Rock's season-opening sweep of Davis & Elkins College, starting pitchers Devin Dunn (2-0) and Luke Trueman (2-0) once again dominated the doubleheader as the pair combined to pitch 14 of a possible 16 innings Friday while allowing just two runs and striking out 16 batters.
 
Dunn has yet to allow a run in 14 innings pitched in a Rock uniform to go with 19 strikeouts and only two walks.
 
Offensively, Anthony Cinicola went a combined 3-for-7 over the doubleheader in addition to scoring one run and stealing a base. Joel Spishock, Abraham Mow, Jon Kozarian and Evan Knaus had multi-hit days as well over the doubleheader with Spishock launching a three-run home run.
 
GAME ONE: SRU 1 – WVSU 0
Dunn turned in another brilliant performance on the mound for The Rock while Colin Cain came off the bench to produce a clutch run-scoring double as part of a 1-0 SRU win over the Yellow Jackets in game one.
 
For a second consecutive start, Dunn tossed a complete game without allowing a run as the McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania native struck out eight while surrendering just four hits and no walks on 96 pitches. Dunn gave up just one hit over the final five innings.
 
While Slippery Rock's offense was slow to get going, Dunn was more than up to the task of keeping SRU in the game as he worked out of jams throughout the day to keep the Yellow Jackets at bay. WVSU put runners in scoring position in each of the first three innings, but each time Dunn was able to pitch his way out of the tight spots to keep the Yellow Jackets without a run.
 
Dunn went on to pitch consecutive perfect innings to send the game into the sixth inning with The Rock and West Virginia State knotted at 0-0.
 
Slippery Rock finally broke through in the sixth. The frame started with Colin Bryant coming on for Yellow Jacket starter Foster Conis, who limited SRU to just two hits over the first five innings.
 
With two outs, Cain came to the plate for the first time in the game as a pinch hitter and proceeded to rip a double down the right field line that was able to score Connor Hamilton, who reached base earlier in the inning via a hard-hit grounder to third that was ruled an error, all the way from first base to give SRU a 1-0 lead.
 
The one-run advantage was more than enough for Dunn who closed out the game with a flawless bottom of the sixth inning followed by a two-strikeout seventh to clinch the victory.
 
Cain's RBI-double was the lone extra-base hit of the game for Slippery Rock. Mow, Kozarian and Cinicola recorded base hits for SRU with Kozarian and Cinicola also stealing one base apiece.
 
Bryant (0-1) was the pitcher of record for West Virginia State in the opener after giving up the game's lone run while striking out four Rock batters over two innings pitched.
 
GAME TWO: SRU 6 – WVSU 2
SRU once again received a great pitching performance in game two while Spishock spearheaded The Rock's bats with a three-run home run in a 6-2 victory over West Virginia State.
 
Trueman scattered two runs on six hits and one walk while matching his career-high with eight strikeouts in seven strong innings. Travis Holman, who was making his second appearance of the year out of The Rock's bullpen, pitched two scoreless innings after coming on for Holman in the eighth.
 
Spishock finished the game going 2-for-4 with a three-run home run all the while walking once. Cinicola and Knaus compiled two-hit, one-run games as well with Knaus also drawing one walk.
 
Six other Rock batters registered hits in the victory as Mow, Kozarian, Hamilton, Alex Robenolt, Eddie Morris and Joe Ehland all had singles with Mow and Hamilton driving in runs and Morris walking twice.
 
Slippery Rock got on the board early in game two courtesy of Ehland. Following a leadoff single in the third inning, Ehland went on to steal second, advance to third base on a wild pitch and take home courtesy of a passed ball for the contest's first run.
 
SRU busted the game open in the fourth inning as Morris and Knaus led off the frame with back-to-back singles that caused WVSU to take out starting pitcher Quincy Thornton in favor of Nick Loftis with Spishock coming to the plate.
 
The pitching change did little to derail The Rock's momentum as Spishock proceeded to launch a three-run homer to left field, giving SRU a 4-0 lead. West Virginia State would manage cut Slippery Rock's lead in half in the fifth inning via a two-run homer from Mike Stone.
 
However, any thoughts of a comeback were quieted as Trueman settled in to shut down the Yellow Jacket batters over the next two innings while Mow and Hamilton added insurance runs with RBI-singles in the eighth to give SRU a 6-2 lead that Holman preserved with back-to-back scoreless innings en route to the four-run win.
 
Thornton took the loss for WVSU after giving up three runs on four hits and two walks over 3.1 innings pitched.
 
Slippery Rock and West Virginia State will complete the weekend series with a nine-inning game Sunday with first pitch scheduled for 12 p.m.
 
   




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