ERIE, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University baseball team completed its series sweep of Gannon University with a pair of Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division road victories Sunday.
 
SRU began the day with a 4-2 win followed by a convincing 17-3 triumph in game two.
 
Sunday's sweep improves The Rock's record to 24-11 overall and 14-6 inside the PSAC West while Gannon drops to 6-29 overall and 4-16 in league games.

With two conference series remaining in the regular season, Slippery Rock is currently tied for first in the PSAC West standings with Indiana University (Pa.) and Mercyhurst University.
 
As a team, Slippery Rock racked up 32 hits throughout Sunday's doubleheader. Five Rock batters totaled at least four hits in the two games.
 
Brandon Butler continued his great rookie season by going a combined 6-for-8 with two runs and five RBI Sunday. The rookie third baseman is now tied for second on the team in batting average (.361).
 
Koby Bubash pushed his hitting streak to 16 games following a pair of two-hit games that resulted in a combined 4-for-6, three-run, two-RBI, two-walk effort. Bubash now has the fifth longest documented hitting streak in program history.
 
The trio of Eddie Morris (4-for-8, 1 run, 5 RBI), Gage Gillott (4-for-8, 5 runs, 1 RBI) and Cam Panyko Morris (4-for-9, 3 runs, 2 RBI) joined Bubash with four-hit doubleheaders as well.
 
GAME ONE: SRU 4 – GU 2
In what has become a common trend among Rock starting pitchers, Joey Purcell turned in another dominant performance on the mound to lead SRU in a 4-2 game one victory over Gannon.
 
Purcell pitched his second complete game of the year by scattering two runs – only one of which was earned – on three hits and two walks all the while matching his season-high strikeout total with nine on the way to improving his record to 4-3 on the year.
 
Purcell did not allow a baserunner until the third inning in addition carrying a no-hitter into the fifth inning and not surrendering a run until the sixth when SRU was already leading by four runs.
 
While Gannon's bats were being kept in check by Purcell, The Rock's offense was able to record 11 hits.
 
SRU posted the game's first run in the third inning when Panyko Morris brought in Robby Barrientos via a sacrifice fly. Barrientos doubled to lead off the inning and later moved to third on a Braden Olson single prior to scoring.
 
The Rock went on to score two more runs an inning later by way of a two-RBI single by Butler. Panyko Morris capped off SRU's scoring in the opener with leadoff home run in the fifth inning.
 
Nine Rock batters tallied hits in the victory. The trio of Butler, Morris and Bubash all posted two-hit games with Bubash also drawing a walk. Olson, Barrientos, Panyko Morris, Gillott and Michael Kitko collected one hit apiece as well.
 
Jake Boynar (2-2) pitched five innings for Gannon in the loss, giving up four runs on 10 hits and a walk. Logan Oakes threw two shutout innings out of the GU bullpen.
 
GAME TWO: SRU 17 – GU 3
Slippery Rock finished out its four-game sweep of the Golden Knights in strong fashion. SRU totaled 21 hits from 10 athletes in a 17-3 victory.
 
SRU jumped out to a big lead early and never looked back on the way to the 14-run victory. The Rock scored five runs in the first inning followed by four in the second, three in the third and finally five more in the fourth.
 
The 17 runs matched Saturday's 17-1 victory over the Golden Knights for the most runs scored by The Rock this year while their 21 hits was a season-high and the most for the program since last year's 23-hit game against Alliance.
 
Not only did every Rock starter tally at least one hit, seven had multi-hit games led by Butler's 4-for-5, 2-run, three-RBI performance.
 
The top half of The Rock's batting order was particularly impressive as Purcell, Panyko Morris, Gillott and Kitko combined to go 10-for-18 with 11 runs and three RBI.
 
Morris produced five RBI in a two-hit, one-walk showing. Bubash rounded out The Rock's multi-hit players as part of a 2-for-4, three-run, two-RBI, one-walk day at the plate.
 
While The Rock's explosive offense was the highlight of the nightcap, SRU also received a pair of solid outings on the mound from Hunter Loomis (2-1) and Mark Wilbur Jr.
 
Making his fifth start of the season, Loomis gave up just one run on five hits and two walks while striking out six over four innings. He has now yielded just one run in his last eight innings pitched.
 
Wilbur closed out the game by striking out five batters and surrendering two unearned runs for a three-inning save.
 
Six Gannon pitchers took to the mound in game two. Joe Reitebach (0-1) was the pitcher of record after yielding five runs in 0.2 innings.
 
Slippery Rock steps outside of its PSAC West schedule for a non-conference game 3 p.m. Tuesday at Frostburg State University.
 




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