SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University baseball team opened its 2024 season Sunday with a pair of 7-6 walk-off wins over Dominican University (N.Y.) at Jack Critchfield Park.
 
The Rock earned their doubleheader sweep of Dominican, which were also playing their first games of the year, by overcoming deficits in each contest as SRU trailed by five runs in the opener and four runs in the nightcap before embarking on successful comeback bids for the season-opening sweep.
 
With Sunday's sweep of Dominican, Slippery Rock head coach Jeff Messer moved into a tie for 11th place alongside Jack Smitheran (Emporia State 1970-73 / UC Riverside 1974-04) in NCAA Division II history for wins in a career with 1,097.
 
Slippery Rock was led on the day by the duo of Eddie Morris and Tyler Cerame. The duo partnered for eight hits, four runs, four RBI and five-extra base hits.
 
Morris went a combined 4-for-7 over the doubleheader with two runs scored and two RBI with two of hits going for extra bases by way of a double and a triple.
 
Cerame, who was playing his first games in a Rock uniform as a transfer from Finger Lakes Community College, was 4-for-8 with two runs and two RBI as well as one walk. Three of Cerame's hits went for extra bases with two doubles and one triple.
 
GAME ONE: SRU 7 – DU 6
Dominican scored six of the day's first seven runs to take a seemingly safe five-run advantage into the latter stages of the game only for The Rock to rally en route to a 7-6 victory.
 
SRU found itself in a 6-1 hole before coming alive for four runs in the bottom of the fifth inning. The frame started with back-to-back singles by Cam Panyko Morris and Eddie Morris as well Robbie Barrientos being hit by a pitch to load the bases with no outs and Joey Purcell coming to the plate.
 
Purcell finished off an eight pitch at-bat by shooting a single to right field which plated both Panyko Morris and Morris. Leadoff hitter Brandon Butler followed Purcell's clutch hit with a sacrifice fly to bring in Barrientos and make it a 6-4 ball game.
 
Three batters later, Purcell capped the inning off by scoring from second via a Noah Ross RBI-single, cutting the Chargers' lead to just one run.
 
Robert Herr (1-0) came on in relief in the sixth inning to keep The Rock's deficit at one with a pair of shutout innings to send the game to the bottom of the seventh with SRU still within striking distance.
 
Two of The Rock's first three batters in the seventh – Purcell and Koby Bubash - reached base with a Butler sacrifice bunt sandwiched between to put runners at first and second and Cerame coming up. Cerame laced a double to right field on the third pitch of his at-bat, scoring Purcell and Bubash for the walk-off victory.
 
Cerame closed game one going 2-for-3 with two RBI, a walk, a double and a triple. Ross, Panyko Morris, Barrientos, Morris, Purcell and Gage Gillott all had one-hit games as well with Gillott's going for a triple. Panyko Morris scored one run and drove in another with Ross and Butler accounting for SRU's other RBI.
 
Ethan Edkins and Michael Kitko were the first two pitchers used for The Rock. Edkins, who was making his first appearance since the 2022 seasons, struck out three while allowing four runs on eight hits and a walk over 2.2 innings before giving way to Kitko, who threw 2.1 innings with two runs surrendered on three hits.
 
Herr earned the victory thanks to two flawless innings of relief that included one strikeout.
 
Jean Nunez drove in three runs to lead Dominican. Charger starting pitcher Anthony Leak gave up five runs in 4.2 innings. Maverick Medina (1.2 IP, 1 run) and Robert Lieriano (0-1, 1 ER) finished the game for DU.
 
GAME TWO: SRU 7 – DU 6
In similar fashion to the opener, Slippery Rock dug itself into an early hole before more late-inning heroics led to SRU clinching the doubleheader sweep with another 7-6 win.
 
Down 6-2 going into the bottom of the eighth of the nine-inning contest, SRU once again mounted a comeback with another four-run frame.
 
Cerame, the game-one hero, started The Rock's rally with a leadoff single followed by Ross drawing a walk leading to a bases-clearing triple by Morris which cut SRU's deficit in half.
 
A pitching change did little to slow Slippery Rock's momentum as Kitko promptly delivered a run-scoring single. DU reliever Jeuriz Polanco then gave up a single to Derryn Callahan followed later in the inning by hitting Herr with a pitch to load the bases and eventually walking Bubash to bring in the game-tying run before getting out of the frame with the score knotted 6-6.
 
Purcell, who came on to pitch in the eighth, threw a shutout top of the ninth, setting the stage for another dramatic final half inning.
 
With one out in the bottom of the ninth, Morris and Kitko were hit by back-to-back pitches to put the go-ahead run into scoring position and Callahan heading to the plate.
 
Just as he did an inning earlier, Callahan again shot a base-hit to right field that was more than enough for Panyko Morris, who pinch ran for Morris earlier in the frame, to score the game-winning run from second base.

Morris was 3-for-4 with one run, two RBI, a double and a triple in the win. Cerame (2-5), Kitko (2-4) and Callahan (2-4) all recorded multi-hit games as well with Kitko and scoring two runs and driving in another while Callahan walked once to go with his game-winning RBI.
 
Other top performers from game two included Bubash (two walks, one RBI) and Herr (1-3, double).
 
Gillott got the start on the mound for SRU in game two. He scattered one run on four hits with four strikeouts over four innings before giving way to Hunter Loomis who was charged with four runs, only two of which were earned, in 0.2 innings.
 
Parker Hogge relieved Loomis in the fifth and limited the Chargers to just one unearned run while striking out four over the following 2.1 innings. Much like Herr in the opener, Purcell (1-0) came on for Hogge and tossed two shutout innings to close out the win.
 
Dominican also used four pitchers. Isiah Figueroa went 4.2 innings with two unearned runs allowed. The Chargers' bullpen gave up the final five runs with Tyler Spenard (0-1) being the pitcher of record.
 
Slippery Rock returns to competition at the Cary Challenge March 1-3 with four games over three days against Pace, Dominican and St. Thomas Aquinas.
 




To stay up to date with all that happens at The Rock, follow our official athletic communication accounts on 'X' (formerly Twitter, @Rock_Athletics), Facebook (RockAthletics) and Instagram (RockAthletics).