SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. - The Slippery Rock University baseball team concluded its 2024 regular season schedule with a doubleheader sweep Friday vs. Clarion at Jack Critchfield Park.
 
Slippery Rock began the day by earning a 7-4 win in the opener before finishing off the sweep in a 3-1 game-two victory.
 
SRU ends the regular season with an overall record of 28-17 and a 16-10 mark inside the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division. Clarion ends its season at 15-34 overall and 9-19 in league games.
 
With the regular season concluded, The Rock now turns their attention to next week's PSAC Tournament which will be held May 8-11 at Critchfield Park.
 
As the fourth seed out of the Western Division, Slippery Rock will face East Stroudsburg University – the top seed from the PSAC East – 1 p.m. May 8 on day one of the PSAC Tournament. SRU is making its second trip to the conference tournament in the last three seasons.
 
Slippery Rock produced nine hits in both ends of Saturday's doubleheader. Michael Kitko was responsible for four of the 18 hits after going a combined 4-for-6 over the two games with one run scored and a walk. Kitko has now hit safely in 12 of his last 13 appearances.
 
GAME ONE: SRU 7 – Clarion 4
Slippery Rock plated runs in five of its six trips to the plate while holding Clarion to just one big inning as part of a 7-4 victory in game one.
 
Kitko (2-for-3) and Brandon Butler (2-for-4) each collected two hits in game one with Butler also launching what was his third home run of the season in the process. Noah Ross joined Butler in flexing his power by belting a two-run homer of his own. The shot was Ross' first of the year.
 
Cam Panyko Morris reached base three times thanks to a single and two walks. He went on to steal two bases and tally three runs scored. Braden Olson reached base twice, and scored one run, after drawing two walks.
 
Gage Gillott, Koby Bubash and Darryn Callahan all went 1-for-3 as well with Bubash and Callahan each registering an RBI.
 
On the mound, Joey Purcell (5-4) turned in his third complete game of the season after striking out five batters and holding Clarion to four runs – all of which came in one inning – on six hits and three walks.

Capped off by an RBI-triple from Bubash, Slippery Rock posted two runs in the first inning and never looked back en route to the win.
 
SRU went on to score twice in the third inning with additional insurance runs coming in fourth, fifth and sixth.
 
Meanwhile, Purcell took a three-hit shutout into the sixth before Clarion broke through for four runs. However, the comeback bid was short-lived as Purcell got out of the inning and stranded one runner on base in the seventh for his fifth victory of the season.
 
Clarion used three pitchers in game one. Starter Ryan Gallagher was the pitcher of record after surrendering four runs – only two of which were earned – on four hits and three walks in 2.1 innings.
 
GAME TWO: SRU 3 – Clarion 1
Slippery Rock fended off a late comeback bid by the Golden Eagles to secure the doubleheader sweep in a 3-1 regular-season finale victory.
 
Playing in his final regular season home game, Eddie Morris hit his third home run of the year to highlight the win.
 
Purcell, Kitko and Robby Barrientos were all 2-for-3. Purcell drove in one run on his second triple of 2024 while both of Barrientos' hits came by way of doubles.
 
Bubash and Panyko Morris rounded out SRU's top hitters in the nightcap via one base hit apiece with Bubash's resulting in his team-leading 31st RBI of the season.
 
Slippery Rock's pitching duo of starter Hunter Loomis (3-2) and reliever Gino Marra combined to limit Clarion to just five hits over seven innings.
 
Loomis earned the victory after scattering three hits and two walks alongside four strikeouts over five shutout innings. Marra came on to pitch the final two innings, giving up just one unearned run on two hits in addition to posting four strikeouts for his third save of 2024.
 
As was the case in the opener, Bubash once again got The Rock going in game two when he plated Gillott with a run-scoring single in the first inning.
 
Loomis and Clarion pitcher Isaac Schleich then trades scoreless frames until the bottom of the fourth inning when Slippery Rock stretched its lead out to 3-0 on Morris' solo home run and a run-scoring triple from Purcell which brought home Barrientos, who doubled earlier in the inning.
 
The Rock's shutout once again held until the sixth inning before Clarion was able to tally its first run of the game on a Rock error. But just as Purcell did in game one, Marra recovered and ended the Golden Eagle comeback threat with a strikeout that stranded two runners on base.
 
Marra also worked around a one-out single in the seventh with a strikeout and groundout against the final two batters of the game to close out the two-run victory.
 
Schleich took the loss on the mound for Clarion after giving up all three Rock runs in 3.2 innings.
 
Prior to Friday's games, Slippery Rock's 2024 senior class of Barrientos, Bubash, Marra, Morris, Olson, Ross and student manager Antonio Ambrogio were recognized for their contributions to the program over their careers in a Senior Day celebration.
 
 
 

 
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