CLARION, Pa. - The Slippery Rock University baseball team began its final series of the regular season by splitting a doubleheader Thursday at Clarion.
Slippery Rock took the opener from the Golden Eagles, 9-1, before Clarion salvaged the day with 4-3 walkoff victory in game two.
SRU officially clinched a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Tournament berth by splitting the doubleheader, combined with a split doubleheader between Pitt-Johnstown and California (Pa.).
Slippery Rock will be making its second trip to the conference tournament in the last three years. The 2024 PSAC Tournament will be conducted May 8-11 in Slippery Rock at Jack Critchfield Park.
Thursday's results move The Rock's record to 26-17 overall and 15-11 inside the PSAC West while Clarion goes to 15-32 overall and 8-18 in league games.
Entering its final doubleheader of the regular season on Friday against Clarion, Slippery Rock is assured of being no worse than fourth seed out of the PSAC West in the upcoming conference tournament and could potentially move up to the third seed with a doubleheader sweep of the Golden Eagles combined with a pair of wins for Mercyhurst over Indiana (Pa.).
Gage Gillott led SRU to its split Thursday. The Rock's ace was dominant on the mound in the opener with a start that nearly resulted in a perfect game. He then scored a run and had a hit in game two.
Robby Barrientos was a combined 4-for-7 with two runs and two RBI over the doubleheader.
Koby Bubash followed by going 3-for-6 with one run, two RBI and a double through the two games.
Brandon Butler was 3-for-9 with a home run on the day while the trio of
Braden Olson,
Michael Kitko and
Joey Purcell all had hits in both ends of the doubleheader as well via matching 2-for-7, one-run showings with Olson and Purcell also tallying two RBI. All the hits by Olson and Purcell were doubles.
GAME ONE: SRU 9 – Clarion 1
Gillott's dominant, and near historic, performance on the mound highlighted The Rock's 9-1 victory over Clarion in the opener.
In what's been a season full of great outings, Gillott turned in another gem of a start in game one. He retired the first 18 batters he faced, seven of which came by way of strikeout, to position himself for a chance at what would have been SRU's first documented perfect game heading into the seventh inning.
However, Gillott's bid for perfection fell just short as Caden Contant dropped in a leadoff double in the seventh to right field on a ball that fell just out of the reach of outfielder
Eddie Morris and Bubash.
The Golden Eagles went on to tally two more hits and a run to break up the shutout in the final inning, but The Rock's lead was never seriously threatened as SRU eventually turned a game-ending double play to close out the eight-run victory.
Gillott, who entered the game ranked third in Division II in both ERA and complete games, is now 7-3 on the year with 67 strikeouts and a .191 opponent batting average over 69.1 innings pitched.
With Gillott in control on the mound, Slippery Rock's offense more than did its job at the plate by providing ample run support thanks to 10 hits – five of which went for extra bases – and five walks. SRU scored once in the first inning followed by four-run frames in the third and fifth.
Bubash, Butler and Barrientos all collected two-hit games. Butler launched his second home run of the season while Barrientos posted two RBI and Bubash drove in a run as well on his eighth double of 2024.
Noah Ross didn't record an official at-bat in the game, but was constantly on the basepaths as he walked four times, resulting in two runs scored.
Morris, Purcell, Kitko and Olson rounded out The Rock's offensive leaders in game one with one hit apiece. Olson also drove in a pair of runs.
Clarion used three pitchers in the opener. Danny Fox (0-4) took the loss after giving up five runs in 2.1 innings.
GAME TWO: Clarion 4 – SRU 3
A late Clarion charge allowed the Golden Eagles to take game two, 4-3, and earn a home doubleheader split with The Rock.
Barrientos registered SRU's lone multi-hit performance in game two, going 2-for-3 with one run. Purcell and Bubash each had a hit and an RBI as well while Butler, Gillott, Kitko and Olson compiled one hit apiece.
Starting pitcher
Nate Malak provided The Rock with another solid outing on the mound as he struck out nine while working around six hits and a walk to allow just three runs – only one of which was earned.
Reliever
Joey Vanzin (0-2) was the pitcher of record for SRU as he gave up two hits in relief of Malak in the seventh before giving way to
Robert Herr, who surrendered the game-winning hit.
The Rock and Golden Eagles each scored runs in the first inning.
SRU plated a pair of runs to start the game courtesy of a two-out single by Bubash that drove in Gillott from third base and led to an accompanying error on the play which allowed Kitko to come home from second base.
Clarion meanwhile also took advantage of a fielding miscue in the bottom of the first which put a runner on third who in turn eventually scored off a base hit by Ethan Giangiulio.
Slippery Rock went on to score another run an inning later by way of a Purcell RBI-double that brought in Barrientos to make it a 3-1 game only for the Golden Eagles cut back into The Rock's lead with a run in the fourth.
SRU's one-run advantage held until the seventh inning when Clarion scored twice with two outs capped off by a walkoff single from Giangiulio to earn the 4-3 victory.
Giangiulio was 2-for-4 with two RBI for Clarion. Pitcher Bobby Curry (3-1) came out of the Clarion bullpen to throw 1.2 shutout innings for the win.
Slippery Rock closes out its regular season with a home doubleheader Friday against Clarion. First pitch of game one from Critchfield Park is set for 1 p.m.
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