INDIANA, Pa. - The Slippery Rock University baseball team and Indiana University (Pa.) opened their four-game Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division series with a split doubleheader Friday at Dougherty Field in Indiana, Pennsylvania.
 
After losing 8-7 to the host Crimson Hawks in the opener, Slippery Rock salvaged the day with a convincing 8-1 victory in game two. The split moves The Rock's record to 16-10 overall and 4-6 inside the PSAC West. IUP ends the day at 13-13 overall and 4-6 in league games.
 
The Rock were paced by the duo of Gage Gillott and Michael Kitko. Gillott went 5-for-8 over the doubleheader with four runs scored, one home run and six RBIs. Kitko also went 5-for-8 with one run, one RBI and a walk.
 
Treston Nemeth produced a 4-for-8 doubleheader that included one run and two RBIs while the duo of Max Bernadowski and Jake Robinson each went 3-for-7 on the day with Robinson driving in two runs and Bernadowski scoring three times.

SRU had 29 hits over the two road games and has now tallied double-digit hit totals in six of the last eight games overall.
 
GAME 1: IUP 8 – SRU 7 (9 innings)
W: Jake Detwiler (1-1)
L: Nolan Comerford (0-1)
 
Slippery Rock erased a late four-run deficit to briefly take a lead and eventually head to extra innings, but IUP was able to stave off SRU's comeback bid with an 8-7 victory in nine innings.
 
Trailing 6-2 entering the sixth inning, Slippery Rock completely erased its deficit and took a lead courtesy of a five-run frame that was highlighted by a two-run double by Gillott and a go-ahead sacrifice fly off Robinson's bat that plated Luke Anderton.
 
However, SRU could not hold onto the lead as a two-out run-scoring double by IUP's Anthony Annichine in the seventh sent the game into extra innings.
 
Following a scoreless eighth inning, Indiana stranded Clay Wiesen – who reached base on a two-out double – in scoring position to take the game into the bottom of the ninth where Aiden Snowberger earned a one-out walk before stealing second and eventually scoring on Elijah Dunn's game-winning RBI single.
 
Gillot (2-for-3), Nemeth (2-for-5) and Darryn Callahan (2-for-5) all had two-hit games in the opener with Gillott collecting four RBIs and hitting his second home run of 2026.
 
Parker Hogge served as The Rock's starting pitcher in game one. He gave up six runs on 11 hits while striking out four. Nolan Comerford (0-1) came on for Hogge in the sixth. He pitched the final 3.2 innings with two runs surrendered on four hits and two walks alongside three strikeouts.
 
IUP reliever Jake Detwiler (1-1) earned the win after pitching two scoreless innings.
 
The Rock and Crimson Hawks combined for 28 hits in game one.

GAME 2: SRU 8 – IUP 1
W: Cole Grady (2-0)
L: Nathan Mankoski (1-3)
 
Slippery Rock produced a dominant end to Friday's doubleheader as The Rock combined 16 hits with a great outing on the mound by Cole Grady to earn an 8-1 victory in the nightcap.
 
Grady was Rock solid for SRU in his fourth start of 2026 as he gave up just one run on five hits and two walks over 6.2 innings while striking out nine Crimson Hawks on the way to his second win of the year. Grady has now struck out 20 batters and yielded just three earned runs over his last two starts.
 
Five different Rock athletes had multi-hit outings in game two. Kitko went a perfect 4-for-4 with a double and one RBI. Gillott clocked a 3-for-5, three-run, two-RBI, two-double game as well.
 
Robinson, Nemeth and Bernadowski all had two hits with Robinson scoring twice and driving in another while Nemeth tallied two RBIs.
 
Rounding out The Rock's top performers in game two with one hit each was Wiesen, Stone Powell and Brandon Butler. Powell's hit came in the form of his team-leading fourth home run of the year.
 
SRU scored seven consecutive runs through the opening four innings of competition to put game two out of reach early as IUP could only briefly trim one run off its deficit, which The Rock would get back in the sixth via Powell's solo homer.
 
Following a one-out single in bottom of the seventh, Joey Vanzin came on for Grady to finish out the win by forcing consecutive game-ending IUP groundouts.
 
Nathan Mankoski (1-3) was the pitcher of record for Indiana. He gave up five runs on nine hits in three innings.
 
Slippery Rock and Indiana close out their PSAC West series with a doubleheader Saturday at Critchfield Park. First pitch of game one is set for 1 p.m.






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