ERIE, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University baseball team split a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division doubleheader Friday on the road at Mercyhurst University.
 
Slippery Rock posted a 2-0 shutout in game one before the Lakers evened the series with a 7-1 victory in game two. Friday's split moves The Rock's record to 12-5 overall and 4-2 inside the PSAC West. Mercyhurst ends the day at 6-11 overall and 3-3 in league games.  
 
Gage Gillott led SRU Friday. In what is becoming a common trend for the redshirt sophomore, Gillott began the day by tossing his third complete game of the season, allowing just two hits on the way his third total shutout of 2024 (two solo / one combined). Gillott then went 1-for-3 with a run scored in the nightcap to push his hitting streak to 11 games.
 
Over six starts and 36.2 innings pitched this year, Gillott has gone 4-1 with a 0.98 ERA and .171 opponent batting average all the while compiling a .463 on-base percentage at the plate with 10 runs scored and seven RBI.
 
Joey Purcell was the lone Rock athlete to record hits in both games Friday, going a combined 3-for-6 over the doubleheader with one run, two stolen bases and a walk. Purcell is now batting an even .400 with a team-high .512 on-base percentage in 2024.
 
GAME 1: SRU 2 – MU 0
A two-run first inning proved to be more than enough run support for Gillott who continued his dominant debut season at The Rock with two-hit complete game shutout in SRU's 2-0 victory in game one.
 
Gillott, who faced just three batters over the minimum, was virtually unhittable in his sixth start of the season. He struck out six batters while yielding just two hits and a pair of walks on the way to improving his record to 4-1 on the year.
 
Purcell, who served as The Rock's leadoff hitter in game one, reached base three times in the opener by going 2-for-3 with one run scored, one walk and a pair of stolen bases.
 
Eddie Morris and Braden Olson accounted for SRU's other two hits in the opener. Morris matched Purcell with a double, a walk and one run scored as well.
 
Michael Kitko and Noah Ross each registered an RBI, Kitko's being his team-high 13th of the year. 
 
Slippery Rock jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead in the first inning when Purcell singled to lead off the game before moving to third by way of Morris' double. Purcell and Morris eventually scored off back-to-back run-producing outs from Kitko and Ross.
 
The rest of the game belonged to Gillott who worked his way through the Mercyhurst batting order efficiently throughout the day, rarely finding himself in legitimate danger of allowing a run.
 
Mercyhurst's best chance of getting to Gillott occurred in the third inning when Ranciel Ventura hit a leadoff triple followed by a John Susnik walk to put runners on the corners with no outs. However, SRU exhausted the threat thanks to an excellent defensive showing behind Gillott.
 
After the first two runners of the frame reached base, centerfielder Cam Panyko Morris charged a shallow fly ball for the inning's first out and proceeded to make a great throw home to catcher Robby Barrientos who in turn tagged out Ventura attempting to score from third base.
 
The Rock's ace then officially got out of the jam by forcing a groundout to third base for the third inning's final out.
 
Gillott went on to throw hitless innings in the fourth and the fifth while working around a double in the sixth and finally finishing off the win by stranding a leadoff walk in the seventh en route to SRU's two-run triumph.
 
Aidan Kelly (0-2) took the loss for Mercyhurst. He finished with just two runs allowed on three hits and two walks in addition to six strikeouts before giving way to Jack Cecil in the seventh.
 
GAME TWO: MU 7 – SRU 1
Slippery Rock's hopes for a road sweep of the Lakers were dashed after Mercyhurst took advantage of a six-run third inning to salvage the split via a 7-1 victory in the nightcap.
 
The duo of Purcell and Gillott each went 1-for-3 in game two with Gillott scoring SRU's lone run on a Caelan Bender RBI. Robert Herr and Brandon Butler both reached base as well with a hit and a walk, respectively.
 
Parker Hogge (2-2) was the pitcher of record for The Rock. He gave up six runs, only two of which were earned, on seven hits over three innings. Gino Marra came on for Hogge and scattered one run in two innings before giving way to Mark Wilbur Jr., who pitched a scoreless sixth frame.
 
Mercyhurst broke the game open in the third with six runs in an inning that featured five Laker hits and one Rock error.
 
While Slippery Rock's pitching staff settled down following the big third inning to limit MU to just one additional score – a Matt Christopher solo home run – the rest of the way, The Rock's bats never found their collective stride as Mercyhurst pitchers John Bufford Jr. and Jacob Bazala held SRU to three hits and a walk through seven innings.
 
Slippery Rock and Mercyhurst are scheduled to close out their PSAC West series with a doubleheader Saturday at Jack Critchfield Park. First pitch of game one between The Rock and Lakers is set for 1 p.m.
 
 
 
 
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