SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. - The Slippery Rock University baseball team closed its first weekend of the 2023 season with a doubleheader split Sunday at Shippensburg University.
 
After losing the opener, 3-2, SRU salvaged the day with a 6-4 win in game two. Sunday's results wrap up The Rock's four-game series against the Raiders as SRU returns home with a 2-2 record and Shippensburg moves to 9-4 on the season overall.
 
In addition to receiving solid pitching performances throughout the day by Joey Purcell, Mark Wilbur and Robert Herr, Slippery Rock was also led by Alex Robenolt, who went a combined 4-for-7 over the doubleheader with two runs scored, two home runs and four RBI.
 
Robenolt produced as good of start to the season as The Rock could have asked for as the senior outfielder posted eight hits over the weekend, three of which were home runs, in addition to five runs scored and seven RBI.
 
GAME ONE: SU 3 – SRU 2
Slippery Rock struck first in the opener with a pair of runs, but Shippensburg was able to rebound with three unanswered runs to earn a 3-2 victory in game one.
 
Purcell (0-1) made his first collegiate start as a pitcher Sunday, throwing a complete game with three runs allowed on eight hits and one walk in addition to striking out three Raiders.
 
While Purcell was solid for the majority of the day, all three runs and five of his eight hits allowed came over the second and third innings, Shippensburg's JT Weaver was slightly better as he tossed a complete game two-hitter that included eight strikeouts.
 
With one out in the top of the first inning, Eddie Morris walked and Koby Bubash was hit by a pitch to set up a two-on, one-out situation for the heart of SRU's lineup. Robenolt gave SRU its first lead of the day with a run-scoring single that brought in Morris followed later in the inning by a Luke Trueman RBI-single which plated Bubash.
 
However, The Rock's lead would be short-lived as Shippensburg answered back with two runs in the second and what turned out to be the game-winning score in the third. Offensively, Slippery Rock had just one baserunner following the second inning, Herr drew a walk in the fifth before being stranded at first, as Weaver finished off his complete-game victory.
 
Trueman and Robenolt were both 1-for-3 with one RBI in the opener.
 
GAME TWO: SRU 6 – SU 4
Slippery Rock avoided the doubleheader sweep by slugging its way to a 6-4 victory with 11 hits including three home runs, one double and one triple.
 
Robenolt paced The Rock's hitters with a 3-for-4, two-run, three RBI performance that included two home runs. Jon Kozarian joined Robenolt's power display with a home run of his own.
 
Robby Barrientos and Joseph Ehland added two-hit games as well with Ehland also driving in one run courtesy of an RBI-triple.
 
Bubash went 1-for-3 with two runs scored. Freshman Darryn Callahan reached base twice as well with a walk and his first collegiate hit. Braden Olson rounded out SRU's top hitters in the win by going 1-for-3 with one run and a double.
 
Wilbur made his first start on the mound for SRU. He pitched 4.1 innings, giving up four runs, only one of which was earned, on four hits and three walks to go with four strikeouts. Herr (1-0) came on in relief of Wilbur in the fifth and proceeded to silence the Shippensburg bats with 2.2 innings of shutout relief work.
 
As was the case in the opener, Slippery Rock once again started hot with two runs in the nightcap thanks to matching solo home runs by Kozarian and Robenolt. SRU went on to add runs in each of the next two innings by way of Ehland's triple in the second and a Callahan RBI-single in the third.
 
Shippensburg rallied back from the deficit with four consecutive runs of its own, sending the game into the sixth inning tied 4-4. Herr and Shippensburg reliever Ethan Miller then traded shutout frames to keep the game even through six innings.
 
Bubash kept The Rock's hopes alive in the seventh as he was hit by a pitch with two outs to bring up Robenolt, who in a scene reminiscent from SRU's 6-4 win on Friday promptly hit his third homer of the weekend to left field to give Slippery Rock another 6-4 lead.
 
After SRU's big half inning, Herr made sure The Rock were able to avoid another extra inning game by throwing his second full shutout inning of the day to close out the two-run win.  
 
Slippery Rock will now open a 12-game homestand at Jack Critchfield Park starting with a four-game series March 3-5 against Alliance University.




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