JOHNSTOWN, Pa. - The Slippery Rock University baseball team split a road Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division doubleheader at Pitt-Johnstown Friday.

Following a 3-1 loss in the opener, SRU rallied for a 5-3 victory in game two to secure the split. The Rock returns home with a 12-9 overall record and a 1-5 mark inside the PSAC West, while the Mountain Cats move to 11-15 overall and 2-4 in league games.
 
Four Rock athletes had hits in both games of Friday's doubleheader, led by Gage Gillott who went 4-for-7 over the doubleheader with two runs scored and a walk. Two of Gillott's four hits were doubles. Four of his last six hits have gone for doubles.
 
Michael Kitko collected three hits over the doubleheader. Stone Powell and Jake Robinson each tallied one hit in both games, with Powell's game two hit coming in the form of his third home run of the season.
 
Powell, who drove in four of SRU's six runs scored on the day, has now matched his home run output from the entirety of his 2025 freshman season. Robinson's two hits pushed his reached base streak to 15 games.  
 
In addition to its top offensive performers, Slippery Rock received two solid outings from starting pitchers Parker Hogge and Cole Grady, as well 2.1 combined shutout innings from relief pitchers Nolan Comerford and Joey Vanzin.

GAME 1: UPJ 3 – SRU 1
W: Jimmy Kunst (3-1)
L: Parker Hogge (3-2)
S: Vinny Chirdon (1)
 
A three-run home run by Lucas Muffie proved to be the difference for Pitt-Johnstown in game one's 3-1 Mountain Cat victory.
 
Hogge (3-2) was strong on the mound for The Rock in his third start of the season, pitching five innings with three strikeouts and scattering six hits and one walk with Muffie's home run being the lone blemish of his day.
 
Comerford came on for Hogge in the sixth and proceeded to throw a shutout inning that included two strikeouts.
 
At the plate, Gillott collected two of SRU's six hits while scoring one run and drawing a walk.
 
Kitko, Powell, Robinson and Morgen Billotte compiled base hits as well with Powell driving in his 13th run of the year. Darryn Callahan and Max Bernadowski both reached base via walks.
 
SRU had its chances through the duration of Friday's opener, but left nine runners on base in the setback.
 
After Muffie's second-inning home run, Slippery Rock responded in the third when the first three batters SRU sent to the plate all reached base.
 
Gillott drew a leadoff walk before navigating his away around the basepaths and across home plate off back-to-back singles from Kitko and Powell. However, UPJ starting pitcher Jimmy Kunst avoided further damage in the inning by forcing a pop out and an inning-ending double play to keep Pitt-Johnstown in front of The Rock, 3-1.
 
Kunst went on to pitch scoreless innings in the fourth and fifth while recording two outs in the sixth before giving way to Vinny Chirdon, who ended the frame with a strikeout while going on to retire SRU in order in seventh to close out the two-run victory.
 
Kunst (3-1) earned the win after allowing one run on six hits and three walks over 5.2 innings. Chirdon's 1.1 shutout innings in relief earned him his first save of the year.

GAME 2: SRU 5 – UPJ 3
W: Cole Grady (1-0)
L: Brian Pirone (2-2)
S: Joey Vanzin (3)
 
Slippery Rock erased a three-run deficit late with a huge sixth inning to pave the way for a 5-3 win against UPJ in game two.
 
Trailing 3-0 after the Mountain Cats scored twice in the first inning and once more in the fifth, The Rock went to work on their comeback bid in the sixth.
 
Gillott ignited the rally with a leadoff double followed by a Kitko single that put runners on first and third and Powell coming to the plate. With the count at 2-1, Powell drove a home run high over the left field wall, pulling SRU and UPJ even at 3-3.
 
Slippery Rock's rally continued after Powell's homer when Treston Nemeth drove a double to centerfielder followed by a Clay Wiesen single that once again put runners on first and third with no outs in the frame. Robinson then stepped to the plate and sent the first pitch of his at-bat through the right side of the infield, easily scoring Nemeth for the go-ahead run.
 
SRU later added an additional insurance run before Pitt-Johnstown could get out of the frame when Wiesen scored on a double play to stretch The Rock's lead to 5-3.
 
The bottom of the sixth saw Grady strikeout the first two batters of the inning before surrendering a walk – only his second of the game – to bring the potential tying run to the plate. Joey Vanzin took the mound following the walk and after an infield hit by UPJ he forced another grounder that was fielded by Wiesen, who stepped on second for the inning-ending force out.
 
While the leadoff hitter in the bottom of the seventh did reach base on a strikeout-wild pitch, Vanzin stranded him on first by registering back-to-back lineouts with a final strikeout to give SRU its first league win of 2026.
 
Grady (1-0) earned his first win a Rock uniform after giving a strong performance on the mound. He recorded 11 strikeouts while giving up three runs – only two earned – on four hits and two walks over 5.2 innings. Vanzin struck out two batters en route to his third save of the year.
 
The Rock registered 10 hits in the nightcap for their ninth double-digit hit game of the season. Nemeth went 3-for-3 with one run and a double. Gillott and Kitko each went 2-for-4 with one run. Both of Gillott's hits were doubles.
 
Powell, Wiesen and Robinson totaled one hit each with Powell's being the game-tying home run and Robinson's producing the go-ahead score.
 
Brian Pirone (2-2) was the pitcher of record for Pitt-Johnstown. He surrendered four runs on seven hits in five innings while striking out 10. Baron Dionis pitched the final two innings for UPJ, giving up one run on three hits.
 
Slippery Rock and Pitt-Johnstown close out the weekend series with a doubleheader Saturday at Critchfield Park. First pitch of game one is scheduled for 1 p.m.




 To stay up to date with all that happens at The Rock, follow our official athletic communication accounts on 'X' (formerly Twitter, @Rock_Athletics), Facebook (RockAthletics) and Instagram (RockAthletics).