WASHINGTON, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University baseball team split a road Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division doubleheader with California (Pa.) Saturday at Wild Things Park in Washington, Pennsylvania.
 
SRU dropped the opener to California 3-2 before earning a 5-0 victory in the nightcap to salvage the day. Saturday's split moves The Rock's record to 18-10 overall and 9-5 in conference competition while the Vulcans are now 22-9 overall and 9-5 inside the PSAC West.
 
The trio of Koby Bubash, Robby Barrientos and Michael Kitko all had hits in both games of the doubleheader.
 
Bubash led the way by going a combined 4-for-5 at the plate with three runs scored, one home run and one RBI over the doubleheader. The senior second baseman has now reached base 23 total times in SRU's last 10 games.
 
Barrientos was 3-for-6 with one run and an RBI while Kitko collected a pair of hits.
 
Bubash has now reached base in 10 straight games with Kitko close behind thanks to a personal nine-game streak.
 
GAME ONE: Cal 3 – SRU 2
The Vulcans were able to parlay a trio of early runs into a 3-2 victory in Saturday's opener.
 
Bubash was a perfect 2-for-2 with one of the hits being a solo home run, his second homer of the year. Kitko, Barrientos and Eddie Morris all had hits as well with Barrientos' being a double.
 
As he has done in all eight of his starts this year, Gage Gillott (5-2) once again kept The Rock within striking distance with another quality start. He pitched his fifth complete game of 2024, allowing three runs – two of which were earned – on seven hits and no walks to go with a season-high eight strikeouts in the loss.
 
California struck first in the opener by scoring two runs, both of which came with two outs in the first inning.

The Rock and Vulcans went on to trade one-run innings in the second with SRU scoring courtesy of a leadoff home run by Bubash only for Cal's Nathan Meeks to respond with solo shot of his own in the bottom half of the frame which pushed the host's lead back out to two runs at 3-1.
 
Gillott did not allow a run, and just two hits over the remainder of the game.
 
While SRU did cut its deficit to just one run by way of a sacrifice fly off the bat of Cam Panyko Morris that plated Barrientos in the fifth, it could never find the game-tying run over the final two innings as the Vulcans hung on for a 3-2 victory.
 
Jackson Miller (2-2) took the win on the mound for California after scattering one run on three hits in four innings. Josh Bryson gave up one run over two innings in relief of Miller before giving way to closer Jake Kramer who pitched a shutout seventh inning for his eighth save of the year.
 
GAME TWO: SRU 5 – Cal 0
Nate Malak (2-0) turned in arguably the best pitching performance of his young collegiate career to lead The Rock in a 5-0 victory over the Vulcans in game two.
 
The game two result served as The Rock's seventh shutout of the year.
 
Malak, who was making his third start of 2024, pitched a career-long six shutout innings while surrendering just one hit and one walk in addition to posting a personal-best seven strikeouts before turning the game over to freshman Joey Vanzin, who pitched a near flawless seventh inning to preserve the win.
 
Offensively, Slippery Rock registered an impressive 11 hits. The quartet of Bubash, Barrientos, Braden Olson and Brandon Butler all tallied two-hit contests.
 
Olson went a perfect 2-for-2 with three RBI and a triple. Bubash and Butler scored two runs apiece with Butler and Barrientos also collecting an RBI each.
 
Kitko, Gillott, Panyko Morris rounded out the top performers as all three had one-hit outings. Panyko Morris also drew one walk while Gillott stole his fifth base of the season.
 
Michael Valente (4-1) was the pitcher of record for California. He yielded five runs on nine hits and one walk. Beau Bigam pitched the final 1.1 innings out of Cal's bullpen.
 
SRU scored twice in the second inning to take a lead it would never relinquish when Barrientos and Olson came up with back-to-back RBI-singles.
 
The Rock went on to score another run in the fourth courtesy of an RBI triple by Olson and two additional insurance tallies in the sixth.

California's lone hit of game one came in the second inning. From there Malak and Vanzin partnered to keep the Vulcans' bats silent en route to the shutout victory.
 
Slippery Rock and California will finish off their four-game series with another doubleheader Sunday at Jack Critchfield Park. First pitch of game one is set for 1 p.m.
 
 



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