SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. - The Slippery Rock University baseball team returned to form with a doubleheader sweep of Shippensburg University Saturday at Critchfield Park to secure a series split with the Raiders.
 
After being kept in check for the most part in two losses to Shippensburg on Friday, Slippery Rock rattled off 18 total runs and 26 hits over Saturday's doubleheader that included 7-5 and 11-5 victories.
 
Saturday's sweep improved The Rock's record to a healthy 5-2 on the season. SRU has now started its season with at least five wins in its first seven games for the sixth time in the last seven years. Shippensburg leaves Slippery Rock at 6-4.
 
Additionally, the two victories moved Rock head coach Jeff Messer into eighth place on Division II's career wins list. Messer now has 1,159 coaching victories, passing Mike Sansing (Shorter/Kennesaw, 1989-21). He is 16 victories away from overtaking John Goelz (Sonoma State, 1985-24) for seventh place.
 
Eight Rock athletes had at least one hit in both games Saturday, with Treston Nemeth and Gage Gillott leading the way.
 
Gillott went 5-for-8 over the doubleheader with two runs scored, one home run, 3 RBIs, one walk and one stolen base. Nemeth was equally as impressive thanks to a 5-for-9, two-double, five-RBI doubleheader.
 
Darryn Callahan went 3-for-6 with four runs and one RBI. Brett Galcik also had three hits along with one run scored, while Jake Robinson drove in three runs, collected two hits and drew one walk.
 
Reliever Mark Wilbur made a pair of appearances out of The Rock's bullpen, totaling one save and striking out three batters through four shutout innings. Saturday was a productive day for the bullpen as a whole as four SRU relief pitchers gave up just one unearned run over 7.2 total innings.

GAME 1: SRU 7 – SU 5
W: Parker Hogge (2-0)
L: Brenden Anderson (0-1)
S: Mark Wilbur (2)
 
A three-run fifth inning proved to be the difference maker in a 7-5 game-one victory for Slippery Rock.
 
Trailing 5-4, Slippery Rock plated three runs in the decisive fifth inning to push past the Raiders and take a two-run lead.
 
The multi-run advantage was more than enough for Wilbur, who entered the game in place of Parker Hogge (2-0) in the sixth inning and promptly pitched two shutout innings to lock down The Rock's win with his second save of 2026.  
 
Cole Grady made his second start of the season for SRU, going 3.1 innings with five runs allowed on seven hits and a walk before turning the game over to Hogge, who was not charged with a run in his 1.2 innings pitched.
 
Nemeth (2-for-4) and Robinson (1-for-3, 1 run) each drove in a pair of runs in the opener for The Rock. Gillott also had an RBI as part of a 1-for-3, one-walk showing.  
 
Callahan reached base three times (1-for-2, 2 walks) with two runs scored. Max Bernadowski also scored two runs while Galcik was 2-for-4 with one run and a double to help SRU to 10 total hits.
 
Relief pitcher Brenden Anderson (0-1) was the pitcher of record for Shippensburg. He gave up three runs in one inning before Nathan Lake and Dom DiBlasi finished out the game. Jonah Mayer (3.1 IP, 4 R) made the start.

GAME 2: SRU 11 – SU 5
W: Kyle Warnsman (1-0)
L: Jacob Dennis (0-2)
 
Shippensburg tallied three first-inning runs only for SRU to register its top offensive performance of the season for an 11-5 Saturday-sweep clinching victory.
 
The Rock racked up a season-high 16 hits, eight of which went for extra bases (6 doubles, 1 triple, 1 home run).  
 
Gillott went 4-for-5 with two runs scored, two RBIs, one stolen base and a home run (the first by a Rock batter this year). Nemeth registered a 3-for-5, three-RBI, two-double showing. Callahan (2-for-4, 2 runs, 1 RBI) and Stone Powell (2-for-3, 1 RBI) both logged multi-hit games as well.
 
Michael Kitko reached base three times, going 1-for-3 with one run, one RBI, one double and two walks.
 
SRU used four pitchers in game two. The freshmen combination of Zachary Hare and Nolan Comerford threw the opening four innings. Hare made his inaugural collegiate start, going three innings with four runs allowed (one earned) on two hits and five walks. Comerford pitched one inning with unearned run.
 
Kyle Warnsman (1-0) worked around two hits and a walk in his lone inning of work before giving way to Wilbur, who picked up two strikeouts in two shutout innings.
 
The Rock and Raiders were locked in a 5-5 stalemate until the fifth inning when SRU scored five runs on six hits and a walk.
 
After Wilbur held Shippensburg scoreless in the top of the sixth, Slippery Rock added a final insurance tally when Galcik, who tripled to lead off the frame, took home on a wild pitch. Wilbur then used a groundout-flyout-strikeout trifecta in the seventh to end the win.
 
Like SRU, Shippensburg also used four pitchers in game two. Jacob Dennis (0-2) gave up six runs in 1.1 innings in the loss.
 
Slippery Rock continues its 11-game homestand when it hosts West Virginia State University for a three-game series March 7-8 at Critchfield Park. The Rock and Yellow Jackets play a doubleheader March 7 followed by a single nine-inning game March 8. First pitch on both days is set for noon.





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