ERIE, Pa. - The Slippery Rock University baseball team was swept in a road doubleheader by Gannon University Saturday at McConnell Family Field in Erie, Pennsylvania.
 
Gannon took the doubleheader with 6-3 and 10-4 wins to salvage a four-game series split with Slippery Rock, which won a pair of games Friday to open the series at home.  
 
Slippery Rock exits the weekend with a 17-11 overall record and a 7-5 mark inside the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division. Gannon ends the series at 12-16 overall and 5-7 in PSAC West competition.
 
Stone Powell and Brandon Butler were The Rock's top performers over Saturday's doubleheader. Powell went a combined 4-for-6 with one run and two RBI. Two of Powell's hits were doubles. Butler was 3-for-5 with three runs and two walks.

GAME 1: GU 6 – SRU 3
A day after losing twice in walk-off fashion, Gannon earned a dramatic win of its own courtesy of a three-run homer by Ian Soto in the seventh inning that propelled the Golden Knights to a 6-3 victory.
 
Gannon jumped out to a 2-0 lead off a Dom Costello solo home run in the third inning and a run-scoring double by Wes Parker in the fifth before The Rock mounted a comeback in the form of a three-run sixth frame.
 
A Michael Kitko walk and Butler single put runners on first and second with just one out before Tyler Cerame drove a ball to centerfield that bounced over the fence, resulting in a ground-rule double and bringing home Kitko. Clay Wiesen proceeded to cap off the big inning when he lined a single to left field that scored Butler and Cerame, giving SRU a 3-2 lead.
 
However, the late comeback was ultimately thwarted by the host Golden Knights, who pulled even with The Rock in the bottom of the sixth before a seventh inning in which Soto launched a three-run walk-off home run to centerfield to clinch a 6-3 GU win.
 
Powell accounted for two of SRU's eight hits in the opener as part of a 2-for-3 effort that included one double. Kitko and Treston Nemeth each reached base twice in the defeat as well by going 1-for-3 with a walk in addition to Kitko's one run scored.
 
Wiesen, Cerame, Butler and Cam Panyko Morris rounded out SRU's top offensive performers at one hit apiece with Wiesen also tallying his previously mentioned two RBIs.
 
Joe Purcell served as Slippery Rock's starting pitcher in the game. He turned in a solid outing with just two runs allowed on five hits and one walk over five innings. Joey Vanzin (1-2) was the pitcher of record for SRU after surrendering four runs on four hits and two walks in 1.1 innings.
 
Golden Knight reliever Brady Berdine (1-0) earned the win by pitching 1.2 shutout innings in relief of starter Zach Tkatch.

GAME TWO: GU 10 - SRU 4
The Golden Knights scored early and often to win game two 10-4 and salvage the series split.
 
Butler paced The Rock in game two, going 2-for-2 with two runs and two walks. Powell also enjoyed a multi-hit game at 2-for-3, including one double, with one run and two RBI. Cerame also reached base twice with a walk and base hit.
 
Kitko, Panyko Morris, Wiesen, Jimmy Sadler and Gage Gillott all had hits as well with Gillott and Kitko compiling one RBI apiece and Sadler scoring once.
 
Slippery Rock used four pitchers in the setback. Starter Ethan Edkins (2-3) was charged with the loss after allowing four runs in 1.2 innings.
 
Parker Hogge was the first SRU reliever to come on, he worked 2.1 innings with four runs surrendered. Robert Herr and Gino Marra each pitched one inning to end the afternoon. Herr yielded two runs and Marra pitched a clean sixth.
 
Gannon posted multiple runs in three of the opening four innings in the nightcap, grabbing an 8-1 lead it would never relinquish en route to the eventual six-run victory.
 
SRU scored once in the second inning via a run-scoring single off the bat of Powell followed by two runs in the fifth thanks to one RBI each from Kitko and Gillott as well as a final run in the sixth off Powell's second RBI of the contest.   
 
Jacob Engel (3-1) did the heavy lifting for the Gannon pitching staff in the win. He scattered three runs on seven hits and one walk in five innings on the mound for Gannon. Alex Bemis had five RBI for the Golden Knight's offense.
 
Slippery Rock is back in action 3 p.m. April 8 when it hosts Walsh University for a single nine-inning game at Jack Critchfield Park. SRU bested the Cavaliers, 5-3, in 10 innings at Walsh earlier in the season.  




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