SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – The No. 30 Slippery Rock University baseball team completed a four-game series sweep of Clarion University with a pair of impressive 4-2 and 16-5 victories against the Golden Eagles Saturday at Jack Critchfield Park.
 
Slippery Rock exits the weekend on a nine-game winning streak and with an overall record of 27-9 and a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division mark of 13-7. The Rock has outscored their opponents 62-19 during their current winning streak.
 
SRU has now swept its last two PSAC West series to vault itself into a three-way tie along with Gannon and Mercyhurst for first place in the division standings.
 
Slippery Rock's No. 3-6 batters in the lineup – Connor Hamilton, Alex Robenolt, Eddie Morris and Joel Spishock – were dynamic at the plate in Saturday's doubleheader as the quartet combined to go 13-for-24 (.542) with nine runs scored, five home runs and 17 RBI.
 
Robenolt and Hamilton each had four hits in the two games with Robenolt driving in six runs and Hamilton launching his team-leading 11th home run of the year. Spishock belted a pair of home runs as well while Morris collected three RBI.
 
GAME ONE: SRU 4 – CU 2
The Rock combined timely offense with a great day on the mound by Ricky Mineo (5-1) to register a 4-2 victory over Clarion (10-27, 5-15 PSAC West).
 
SRU posted back-to-back two-run innings in the third and fourth frames to take a lead it would never come close to relinquishing.
 
The Rock's scoring started by way of an RBI-double from Hamilton that plated Jon Kozarian from first base. Hamilton later scored courtesy of a run-scoring single from Spishock as SRU darted out to a 2-0 lead.
 
Clarion was able to cut into SRU's lead with one run in the fourth only for Slippery Rock to tally two final runs in the bottom of the inning when Koby Bubash took home on an error and Joe Ehland scored via a sacrifice fly from Kozarian.  
 
Mineo, who gave up just three hits and one unearned run over the opening four innings, took care of the lead as he proceeded to pitch consecutive flawless innings in the fifth and sixth before turning the game over to Andy McClymonds, who closed out the win by limiting Clarion to just one run in the seventh.
 
All told, Mineo went six innings, allowing just the one unearned run on three hits and one walk to go with seven strikeouts. McClymonds collected his second save of the year with two strikeouts in the seventh.
 
Hamilton was responsible for two of The Rock's five hits in game one. Robenolt, Spishock and Luke Trueman also registered base hits.
 
Logan Schlegel (1-5) took the loss for Clarion after giving up four runs, all of which were unearned, on five hits and three walks in six innings.
 
GAME TWO: SRU 16 – CU 5
After a relatively quiet opener, Slippery Rock unleashed an offensive onslaught in game two as SRU belted five home runs en route to an impressive 16-5 sweep-clinching win against the Golden Eagles.
 
Leading 2-1 entering the third inning, Slippery Rock proceeded to score 14 times over the next two innings to put the game away. The highlight of the game occurred in the fourth inning when Robenolt, Morris and Spishock all homered in consecutive at-bats as SRU scored nine runs in a frame that saw The Rock send 13 batters to the plate.
 
Robenolt led the barrage with a 3-for-4, two-run, six-RBI performance that included a double and his eighth home run of 2022. Robenolt has now totaled a team-best 42 RBI. Saturday's game marked Robenolt's second six-RBI game of the year.
 
Spishock hit two home runs in the contest for the third multi-home run game by a Rock player in 2022. He was one of three players, along with Hamilton and Morris with 3-RBI outings in game two.
 
Trueman, Joe Ehalnd Abraham Mow and Braden Olson all had hits as well in the win while Kozarian scored four runs on four walks. The four walks tie Kozarian with Derek Carr, Derek DiRuscia and Matt Kosik for the most walks in a single-game by a Rock batter over the last 14 seasons.
 
Freshman Ethan Edkins (5-0) maintained his perfect record as the rookie overcame six walks and four hits to give up just one unearned run in five innings of work for his fifth win of the season. Travis Holman and JT Wolke each pitched an inning out of the bullpen to finish off the win.
 
SRU has now scored 10 or more runs in a game 10 times this season.
 
Bryan Layton (3-3) was the pitcher of record for Clarion after giving up two runs in 0.2 innings.
 
Slippery Rock will look to push its winning streak to 10 games when it hosts Lock Haven University for a nine inning non-conference game April 26 at Jack Critchfield Park. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m.
 
 

 

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