WASHINGTON, Pa. – The Slippery Rock University baseball team traded wins with California (Pa.) in a road doubleheader Saturday at EQT Park in Washington, Pennsylvania.
 
The Rock took the opener, 6-1, before California recorded a 2-1 10-inning victory in game two, closing out a four-game series split between SRU and Vulcans. Three of the four games between The Rock and California were decided by two runs or less.
 
Slippery Rock exits the penultimate weekend of the regular season with a 29-15 overall record and a 15-9 mark inside the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division. California heads into the final week of the season at 32-9 overall and 17-6 in the PSAC West.
 
SRU is positioned third in the PSAC West standings with four league games remaining in the regular season behind Cal and Seton Hill (16-6), but a half-game ahead of fourth-place Indiana (Pa.) (14-9) and 2.5 games in front of fifth-place Gannon (12-12).
 
The top four teams in the PSAC West standings at the conclusion of the regular season qualify for the conference tournament.
 
Three Rock athletes had hits in both ends of Saturday's doubleheader. Clay Wiesen went 3-for-7 with one run, one RBI and a walk. Michael Kitko and Tyler Cerame were both 2-for-7 with Cerame driving in a run and Kitko also walking once.
 
In addition to compiling two hits and a run in game two, Gage Gillott also pitched four innings with only one run allowed as part of his fourth win of 2025 in the opener. At the plate, Gillott is currently on a 12-game hitting streak.

GAME ONE: SRU 6 – CAL 1
Gillott and Joey Vanzin kept a dangerous California lineup in check while Robert Herr championed The Rock's offensive output as part of a 6-1 victory in the opener.
 
Gillott improved to 4-2 after giving up a mere one run on five hits and a walk through four innings with a pair of strikeouts. None of the Vulcans' five hits off Gillott went for extra bases. The reigning PSAC West Pitcher of the Year is yet to allow more than two runs in a game this season.
 
Vanzin took over for Gillott in the fifth inning and was even more impressive as the sophomore reliever posted three shutout frames with just one hit allowed on the way to his fourth save of the year.
 
Herr collected two of The Rock's eight hits in the opener as part of a 2-for-4 day at the plate that included one run and three RBIs. Both of Herr's hits went for extra bases in the form of a double and a triple.
 
Cam Panyko Morris also collected a multi-hit game, going 2-for-3 with one run and a walk. Wiesen and Cerame were both 1-for-3 with one RBI while Wiesen added a run scored as well.
 
Stone Powell reached base three times via one hit and a walk while scoring two runs. Kitko supplied SRU with the team's third extra-base hit while going 1-for-3 with a double and a walk. Brandon Butler rounded out The Rock's top performers by drawing one walk and scoring a run.
 
Gillott and his counterpart Nathan Holmes were both strong Saturday. The two starters each gave up just one run in their first four innings to take a 1-1 game into the fifth inning.
 
SRU plated two go-ahead runs in the fifth when Wiesen drove an RBI single to right field that scored Butler followed later by Powell scoring on a wild pitch before the Vulcans could escape the inning with The Rock ahead 3-1.
 
California attempted to answer The Rock's two runs in the bottom of the inning when Ikon Jones led off the frame with a single off Vanzin. However, Jones turned out to be one of just two base runners that California would get the remainder of the afternoon. Vanzin worked through the Cal batting order over the next three scoreless innings.
 
While they turned out not to be needed, SRU added three insurance runs in the seventh on a two-run triple by Herr as well as an RBI single from Cerame to cap off the big inning en route to the five-run victory.
 
Holmes (4-2) took the loss for the Vulcans after surrendering three runs on five hits and three walks through 4.2 innings.

GAME TWO: CAL 2 – ROCK 1 (10 Inn.)
California edged out The Rock with a 2-1 win in extra innings of game four in the series that, as was the case in the three games that proceeded it this weekend, was another close call that could have gone either way.
 
Gillott and Wiesen both had two hits in the setback. Wiesen went 2-for-4 with a double and Gillott was 2-for-5 with a run. Treston Nemeth, Butler, Kitko and Cerame all had one-hit showings – Nemeth's being an RBI.
 
The pitching trio of Kitko, Joe Purcell and Mark Wilbur (2-1) all had quality showings on the mound.
 
Making his 10th start of the year, Purcell logged five innings pitched with one run charged to the senior on five hits without issuing a walk. Purcell has given up no more than three runs in just one of his six outings against PSAC West foes.
 
Kitko entered the game in the sixth and went on to throw the following 3.2 innings with three strikeouts and no runs allowed. Wilbur was the final Rock pitcher to take the mound Saturday, surrendering one run on two hits and a walk in one inning.
 
In similar fashion to the opener, pitchers once again dictated the majority of game two with Purcell and Cal's Roman Gill matching one another with five consecutive shutout innings.
 
An infield single by Gillott to lead off the sixth was followed by a sacrifice bunt from Butler and a flyout by Kitko which was deep enough for Gillott to tag up on and move to third base.
 
A Powell two-out walk then put runners on the corner for Nemeth, who in turn sent a single to centerfield which easily scored Gillott for the game's first run. Nemeth's hit forced Gill from the contest for Colin Watson, who was able to get California without any further damage.
 
However, The Rock's lead was short-lived. Back-to-back Vulcan singles to start the bottom of the sixth led to the end of Purcell's day in favor of Kitko, who navigated the dangerous situation by allowing just one run to be scored before stranding the potential go-ahead run on third base with the game tied 1-1.
 
Following the sixth, SRU and Cal went back trading scoreless half innings heading into the bottom of the 10th where a two-out double by Payton Conte laid the groundwork for an eventual walk-off single by Colin Patterson.
 
Jake Kramer (3-0) pitched four shutout innings out of the California bullpen to earn the decision in the 2-1 extra-inning victory.
 
Slippery Rock steps out of PSAC West competition for a final time in the regular season when it returns to action to host Point Park University 7 p.m. April 29 at Critchfield Park.





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