SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. - The Slippery Rock University baseball team recorded a doubleheader sweep of Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division foe No. 17 Seton Hill University on a windy Friday afternoon at Jack Critchfield Park.
 
Slippery Rock earned a 3-2 eight-inning victory in game one as Luke Trueman pitched one of the best games of his career while Alex Robenolt belted a walk-off home run. SRU closed out the day by launching six home runs in game two as part of a 15-4 victory.
 
The two victories improve Slippery Rock's record to 21-9 overall and 7-7 in the PSAC West while the nationally ranked Griffins drop to 23-9-1 overall and 9-5 in league play following the losses.
 
Trueman was great for SRU in every facet of the game Friday. Following his 11-strikeout, two-run effort on the mound in game one, he came back to go 3-for-4 with two runs and two RBI at the plate in game two.
 
On a day in which Slippery Rock totaled 25 hits, six different SRU batters had hits over both games of the doubleheader led by Robenolt who was a combined 3-for-6 with four runs, three RBI, a double and his walk-off home run in game one.
 
Joel Spishock continued his career-year by going 4-for-7 on the day with one home run and a pair of doubles. Leadoff hitter Abraham Mow also collected four hits as part of a 4-for-8, two-run, one-home run, three-RBI outing.
 
Cleanup hitter Connor Hamilton belted a pair of home runs to up his season total to a PSAC-West high 10 in addition to a team-best 30 RBI.
 
Eddie Morris was 3-for-7 in the two games with two runs, one home run and four RBI. Joe Ehland rounded out The Rock's top performers against Seton Hill with two hits and two runs scored.
 
GAME ONE: SRU 3 – SHU 2 (8 innings)
Trueman pitched a gem to keep Slippery Rock in the contest while the heart of The Rock's batting order each drove in runs with Robenolt clinching the 3-2 win with a walk-off home run in the eighth inning.
 
Hamilton gave SRU an early lead with a solo home run in the first. The homer proved to be the only run either team would score over the first three innings as Trueman and Seton Hill starter Kevin Vaupel proceeded to trade scoreless frames to send the contest into the fourth inning with SRU clinging to a one-run lead.
 
Seton Hill finally got to Trueman in the fourth inning when Neil McDermott drove a two-run single to centerfield, giving the Griffins a 2-1 lead.
 
The two runs turned out to be all that Seton Hill could score as Trueman rebounded from the inning by tossing consecutive scoreless innings to maintain The Rock's slim deficit heading into the bottom of the sixth.
 
In the sixth, Robenolt drove a one-out double off of reliever Balke Barker, who came on for Vaupel to start the inning, to right field that sent Morris to the plate with a runner in scoring position. On the fourth pitch of his at-bat, Morris shot a single to left field which plated Robenolt to tie the game at 2-2.
 
The game headed to extra innings after Trueman and SHU closer Nash Bryan traded flawless seventh innings. Trueman recorded two outs in the eighth inning before a Jack Oberdorf single forced him from the game in favor of reliever Andy McClymonds (3-3), who recorded a strikeout to strand Oberdorf and get SRU out of the inning.
 
Bryan appeared poised to sit Slippery Rock down in order in the eighth as he produced back-to-back strikeouts to start the inning before Robenolt drove a 2-0 pitch over the left field fence to seal a 3-2 win.
 
Trueman scattered two runs on five hits and one walk over 7.2 innings while striking out a season-high 11 batters before giving way to McClymonds who earned the win with his eighth-inning ending strikeout.
 
Robenolt finished the opener 2-for-4 with two runs, one home run and a double.  Mow and Spishock both compiled two-hit games as well. Morris and Hamilton each posted one RBI with Hamilton's coming off of his solo home run.
 
Bryan (3-2) took the loss for Seton Hill after giving up Robenolt's game-winning home run.
 
GAME TWO: SRU 15 – SHU 4
While game one was a back-and-forth contest that could have gone either way, the nightcap was all Slippery Rock as SRU posted a pair of five-run innings on the way to a 15-4 victory.
 
Six of The Rock's 15 hits in game two were of the home run variety. The six-home run game was the most for SRU since it had five against Shippensburg during the 2018 season. Slippery Rock last hit six home runs in a game as part of a 16-3 win versus Pitt-Johnstown in 2015.
 
Each of SRU's first six hitters in the batting order – Mow, Koazrian, Hamilton, Robenolt, Morris and Spishock - were responsible for the home runs. Mow and Morris both finished with three RBI and two hits while Kozarian and Robenolt had two RBI apiece.
 
Devin Dunn improved to 6-1 on the season after giving up just four runs on seven hits and two walks over six innings. Dunn's six wins are the most by a Rock pitcher since Alex Pantuso won seven games in 2018.
 
McClymonds made his second appearance of the day with a scoreless seventh inning out of The Rock's bullpen to close the contest out.
 
Already leading 1-0 heading into the second inning, Mow, Kozarian and Hamilton launched back-to-back-to-back home runs in a five-run inning to stretch The Rock's advantage to 5-0.
 
Slippery Rock once again put on a power display in the fourth via back-to-back home runs from Morris and Spishock as SRU added five more runs. Slippery Rock closed out the offensive barrage with four final runs in the sixth by way of another Robenolt home run, a two-run single from Trueman and an Ehland groundout-RBI.
 
The Rock and Griffins will finish off the four-game series with a doubleheader Saturday at Seton Hill. First pitch of game one is set for 1 p.m.
 
 
 
 
 

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