SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University baseball team recorded a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division doubleheader sweep of Indiana University (Pa.) Saturday at Jack Critchfield Park.
 
SRU earned a 5-0 win in the opener followed by a 9-2 victory to close out the day. The sweep improves The Rock's record to 15-7 overall and 7-3 inside the PSAC West while the Crimson Hawks drop to 14-8 overall and 6-4 in league competition.
 
While played at Critchfield Park, Saturday's contests were technically the Crimson Hawks' home games in the four-game weekend series as field conditions at IUP deemed it necessary for the doubleheader to be played at SRU.
 
Gage Gillott continued his breakout season with another dominant doubleheader Saturday. He first pitched a two-hit complete game shutout in the opener followed by going 2-for-4 with one run scored, one RBI, a walk and a stolen base as a position player in game two.  
 
Gillott, who has now thrown two-hit complete game shutouts in consecutive starts, is now 5-1 in seven starts this year with a 0.82 ERA, 40 strikeouts, a .159 opponent batting average and just 13 walks over 43.2 innings.
 
Koby Bubash, Brandon Butler, Eddie Morris and Michael Kitko all collected hits in both games of the doubleheader sweep.
 
Morris went 3-for-8 with two runs, one home run and four RBI. In addition to hitting his first homer of 2024, Morris also belted a triple Saturday.
 
Butler drove in three runs, scored twice and walked once against IUP while Bubash was 3-for-6 over the doubleheader with one run and a stolen base. Kitko drove in two runs on his pair of hits, giving him a team-best 16 RBI this year.
 
GAME ONE: SRU 5 – IUP 0
An early barrage of runs proved to be more than enough support for Gillott, who was once again virtually unhittable as part of a 5-0 Slippery Rock victory in the opener.
 
It took just three pitches for SRU to take an early 2-0 lead. Following a leadoff single by Joey Purcell, Morris hit a home run over the right field fence on the first pitch he saw in his at-bat.
 
Slippery Rock tallied a third run in the inning when Robby Barrientos hit a ground ball to the left side of the infield with the bases loaded and two outs. An IUP infielder attempted to record the final out of the inning by tagging Bubash, who was advancing to third base. However, Bubash successfully avoided the tag to allow Butler to score from third.
 
The early advantage held the rest of the contest as Gillott allowed just two IUP athletes into scoring position all game and never truly found himself in trouble while working his way through the Crimson Hawks' batting order.
 
Meanwhile, SRU added insurance runs in the sixth and seventh via a Purcell run-scoring triple and a Butler RBI-single en route to the 5-0 win.
 
Gillott polished off his third solo shutout, and fourth complete game, of the season by scattering two hits and four walks over seven innings all the while posting five strikeouts.
 
Six Rock batters combined to tally 10 hits led by Purcell going 3-for-4 with one run and one RBI. Bubash was a perfect 2-for-2 while Morris turned in a 2-for-4, one-run, one-home run, four RBI outing.
 
Kitko, Butler and Barrientos provided SRU with one hit apiece with Barrientos' going for a double. Noah Ross reached base twice courtesy of a pair of walks as well.
 
Derrick Shields (1-3) gave up four runs on nine hits and two walks over 5.1 innings in the loss for IUP. Bryce Devan, who threw the final 1.2 innings for Indiana, gave up one run out of the Crimson Hawks' bullpen.
 
GAME TWO: SRU 9 – IUP 2
A six-run fourth inning propelled The Rock to a 9-2 sweep-clinching victory against IUP in game two.
 
Nate Malak (1-0) made his second start this week. He gave Slippery Rock four solid innings of work with just two runs surrendered on four hits and three walks on the way to his first victory of the year.
 
Robert Herr came on for Malak in the fifth. The Rock's top reliever was once again sharp. Not only did Herr not yield a run in three innings, he didn't even surrender a hit or a walk to earn his second save of 2024.  
 
Slippery Rock's offense racked up 11 hits and six walks in the nightcap. Cam Panyko Morris paced the lineup by going 3-for-4 with one run and a double.
 
Gillott and Butler were both 2-for-4 with Butler scoring two runs and driving in one as well.
 
Braden Olson enjoyed his best day at the plate of the year, finishing 1-for-1 with two runs and three walks.
 
Rounding out The Rock's top performers in game two were Morris (2 RBI), Kitko (2 RBI, 1 walk) and Bubsh (1 hit, 1 run).
 
Trailing 2-0 after three innings, Slippery Rock not only rallied back from the deficit but essentially put the game away with six runs in the fourth.  
 
Following back-to-back hits by Bubash and Panyko Morris to lead things off, Butler tied the game via a two-run double. SRU struck again four batters later thanks to Morris who belted a bases-clearing two-RBI triple.
 
The big frame was capped off with back-to-back run-scoring singles off the bats of Gillott and Kitko.
 
IUP appeared poised to get back in the game in the bottom of the inning when the first three Crimson Hawks batters all reached base. However, Malak re-grouped with a strikeout and consecutive flyouts to get out of the inning unscathed.
 
Slippery Rock went on two score three more runs over the following two innings while Herr silenced the IUP bats for the remainder of the game for the seven-run victory.
 
SRU's nine runs in game two marked its highest scoring output since scoring nine runs in a 13-9 loss to Saint Anselm on March 16.
 
IUP used four pitchers in the loss. Starter Mark Edeburn (3-1) was the pitcher of record after allowing six runs on 10 hits and a walk over four innings.
 
Slippery Rock and Indiana will close out their four-game series with another doubleheader Sunday at Critchfield Park. First pitch of game one is set for 1 p.m.
 
 
 
 
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