CARY, N.C. – The Slippery Rock University baseball team maintained its perfect record in 2024 with an impressive 11-0 victory over Dominican University (N.Y.) Saturday at Durham Athletic Park in Cary, North Carolina.
SRU has now won five straight games to open the year for what is The Rock's second-longest winning streak to start a season dating back to 2015.
The victory also served as the 1,100th win in the career of head coach
Jeff Messer. Already the 11th winningest head coach in Division II history, Saturday's win propelled the 2023 American Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame inductee into even more elite company.
Messer is now one of just 60 coaches in NCAA baseball history – regardless of division – to have won at least 1,100 games.
Saturday's win was a dominant all-around effort by The Rock. On the mound,
Gage Gillott and
Robert Herr combined to throw a five-hit shutout. Offensively, SRU produced runs in five of the nine innings while 10 of the 11 position players to register at least one plate appearance reached base.
Gillott (1-0) set the tone for the day by going six innings, striking out seven batters and scattering five hits and one walk throughout the day. He did not allow a baserunner past second for the entirety of his start.
Herr came on for Gillott in the seventh and proceeded to completely shut down the Dominican batting order with three consecutive scoreless innings that included a pair of strikeouts. The only blemishes on Herr's afternoon were a pair of walks. He is yet to allow a run in two relief appearances this season.
Slippery Rock scored once in the first inning and again in the fourth to take a 2-0 advantage into the middle stages of the game. While the small lead would have been more than enough for Gillott and Herr, SRU went on to break the contest open late by scoring three runs in each of the final three innings.
The top five spots in Slippery Rock's batting order combined to go 10-for-27 (.370) on the day with seven RBI, five runs scored and two walks.
Michael Kitko led the group by going 3-for-5 with two RBI while
Cam Panyko Morris,
Koby Bubash and
Noah Ross all tallied two-hit performances with Panyko Morris and Bubash driving in two runs apiece as well.
Joey Purcell also enjoyed a productive day at the plate in the form of a 2-for-4, two-run, one-walk effort.
Freshmen
Brett Galcik and
Steve Budash rounded out The Rock's top performers in the win. The duo's collegiate debuts saw Galcik tally three RBI and Budash score two runs.
Dominican (0-3) used five pitchers in the defeat, its third of the season to The Rock. Anthony Leak (0-1) was solid for the Chargers with just two runs allowed on five hits and a walk all the while striking out six batters over five innings before giving way to DU's bullpen which was unable to keep SRU's bats contained.
Davin Keddell-Tuckey accounted for two of Dominican's five hits.
Slippery Rock concludes its time at the Cary Challenge with a final game 9 a.m. Sunday against St. Thomas Aquinas College at Durham Athletic Park.
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