SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. - The Slippery Rock University baseball team opened Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division competition with a doubleheader sweep of Pitt-Johnstown Friday at Jack Critchfield Park.
 
SRU took the opener, 1-0, behind a complete game shutout from Nate Malak, followed by a 6-3 Rock win in game two.
 
The two wins improve The Rock's record to 11-6 overall and 2-0 in league competition while the Mountain Cats fall to 7-11 overall and 0-2 in conference play. SRU has now won six of its last seven games.
 
Additionally, the doubleheader sweep pushed Slippery Rock head coach Jeff Messer's career win total to 1,134 which is tied with Carl Lancaster (Mount Olive 1987-2018) for ninth place on the Division II career wins list.
 
Malak (3-0) has now won two consecutive starts and has given up multiple runs in a game in just two of his five starts this year. He's struck out a team-high 33 batters while holding opponents to a .194 batting average.
 
The trio of Clay Wiesen, Brandon Butler and Michael Kitko all enjoyed productive doubleheaders Friday.
 
Wiesen went a combined 4-for-6 with two runs scored, two doubles and a walk. Butler drove in three runs on a 3-for-5 day while Kitko went 3-for-6 with one run, three RBI a double and a walk.
 
Kitko has now reached base in each of his 16 appearances this season while Butler and Wiesen are in the midst of respective 13-game and 11-game reached base streaks.

GAME ONE: SRU 1 – UPJ 0
Malak turned in one of the best pitching performances of his career to pace The Rock in a 1-0 victory to open the day.
 
In what was the first complete-game shutout of his college career, Malak matched his career-high with nine strikeouts while working around four hits and just one walk in his seven innings of work.
 
The Rock's lone run of the game came in the second inning. Gage Gillott was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning before taking second on a Treston Nemeth groundout to set the stage for Butler, who shot a single to right field on the second pitch of his at-bat which easily allowed Gillott to score to give SRU a 1-0 lead.
 
While SRU was limited to just four hits over its final four trips to the plate with just one runner reaching scoring position in that time, the one-run advantage turned out to be more than enough for Malak, who allowed just one hit over the final four innings on the way to his third win of 2025.
 
Wiesen went 2-for-3 with a double to lead The Rock's offense in the opener while Kitko, Butler and Tyler Cerame all added one hit apiece.
 
Aiden Coleman (3-2) was the pitcher of record for UPJ. He went six innings, giving up one run on five hits in the loss.

GAME TWO: SRU 6 – UPJ 3
Slippery Rock scored six consecutive runs courtesy of a pair of big innings to lock up the doubleheader sweep via a 6-3 win in the nightcap.
 
The Rock's bats heated up on a cold day at Critchfield Park in game two with 10 hits – SRU's fifth double-digit hit output of the year.
 
Kitko, Wiesen and Butler were all 2-for-3 in the victory with Kitko and Wiesen each tallying a double and a walk. Kitko drove in three runs to up his team-best RBI total to 15. Wiesen meanwhile has now hit a Rock-high six doubles. Butler also compiled two RBI.
 
Gillott, Cam Panyko Morris, Joe Purcell, and Jimmy Sadler all registered one hit while Gillott stole his fourth base of the year.
 
The duo of Hunter Loomis (2-0) and Mark Wilbur took the mound for Slippery Rock in game two. Loomis, who was making his first start of the season, threw four innings with three runs allowed on four hits and one walk to go with three strikeouts.
 
Wilbur notched his third save of the year after striking out four batters and walking one Mountain Cat after pitching the final three innings.
 
Slippery Rock opened its scoring in the first inning when Wiesen took advantage of a throwing error followed later in the frame by a two-run single from Butler which plated Gillott and Kitko.
 
SRU came away with three more runs in the fourth inning when singles by Purcell and Panyko Morris and a Wiesen walk loaded the bases for Kitko, who belted a deep drive to centerfield that fell just off the glove of a diving Justin Turcovski and allowed all three runners to score.
 
The Mountain Cats mounted a rally in the fifth when the first five batters of the inning reached base, ending Loomis' day with The Rock ahead 6-1 but with Pitt-Johnstown still having the bases loaded and no outs. Wilbur entered the game for Loomis and limited the damage to just two additional runs, getting out of the jam with Slippery Rock's lead at 6-3.
 
However, UPJ's comeback bid ended there as Wilbur came back out to pitch the sixth and seventh innings and did not allow a runner in scoring position as he closed out the three-run victory.
 
Seth Shuey fell to 0-1 in 2025 after giving up three runs in three innings. Cole Sansom was tagged with three runs in 2.2 innings before McClain Flinn came on to record the final out of the sixth.
 
Slippery Rock and Pitt-Johnstown will close out their four-game conference series with a doubleheader Saturday at Point Stadium in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. Game one is set for 1 p.m.  





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