SHIPPENSBURG, Pa. - The Slippery Rock University baseball team opened a three-game weekend road series against Shippensburg University with a close 2-1 loss Friday at Fairchild Field.

The non-conference setback moves The Rock's record to 3-2 overall while the host Raiders improve to 6-3 following the win.

SRU pitchers Gage Gillott (1-1) and Hunter Loomis both produced strong outings to keep SRU in Friday's game and The Rock's offense generated nine hits and drew four walks over the nine-inning game, but ultimately stranded a season-high 13 runners on base as Shippensburg claimed game one of the series.

Making his second start of the season, Gillott scattered two runs on five hits and three walks over six innings of quality pitching that included four strikeouts. Loomis came on for Gillott in the seventh and promptly threw two shutout innings with two strikeouts and only one hit surrendered.

Loomis has now pitched five shutout innings in two relief appearances so far in 2025 while Gillott has yielded just three runs in his first 11 innings of work on the year.

Brandon Butler and Joe Purcell both went 2-for-5 in the loss with Butler driving in The Rock's only run for his third RBI of the season.

Treston Nemeth scored SRU's run as part of a three-walk day at the plate. Nemeth has compiled a .545 on-base percentage in his first five appearances wearing a Rock uniform.

Michael Kitko, Tyler Cerame, Cam Panyko Morris, Clay Wiesen and Robert Herr all had hits as well, with Kitko reaching base a second time courtesy of a walk. Cerame and Kitko have both hit safely in every game this season.

Gillott and Shippensburg's Jaxon Dalena (1-1) engaged in a pitcher's duel early on as the two aces pitched their way to four scoreless innings, sending the game into its middle stages with the score deadlocked at 0-0.

The fifth inning proved to be the difference in the game. Dalena retired SRU for a fifth shutout frame while Shippensburg briefly got to Gillott for two runs before the 2024 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division Pitcher of the Year got out of the frame.

The Rock did answer back the next half inning when back-to-back one-out walks by Nemeth and Kitko chased Dalena from the contest in favor of Thomas Davenport, who gave up a run-scoring single to Butler that plated a charging Nemeth from second base.

SRU went on to load the bases later in the inning, but in what became a recurring theme for the day, Shippensburg was able to narrowly avoid disaster by stranding all three runners to maintain the one-run advantage.

While Gillott and Loomis combined to throw three more shutout innings the rest of the way, Slippery Rock was never quite able to find the game-tying and go-ahead runs as Raider pitchers closed out the 2-1 victory by stranding nine Rock runners on base from the sixth inning on.  
 
Dalena earned the win for Shippensburg after striking out eight over 5.1 innings with one run allowed on three walks and three walks. Davenport, Brenden Anderson and Jack Robinson pitched the final 3.2 innings following Dalena's departure.

Robinson tallied his first save of the season after working around a Purcell single and a Nemeth walk with one out in the ninth inning by inducing a pair of ground balls that resulted in game-ending outs.

Carter Hinds and Mike Heckman were both credited for one RBI apiece to pace the Shippensburg offense.

Slippery Rock and Shippensburg will close out the weekend series with a doubleheader Saturday. First pitch of game one is set for 12 p.m.




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