Slippery Rock baseball kept its season alive with a 3-2 come-from-behind victory over Gannon University Thursday afternoon.
The Rock has played six games in the past week, with three wins and three losses, as regular season play came to an end over the weekend and conference playoffs began on Wednesday May 2nd at Pullman Park in Butler.
Yesterday, Lou Trivino took the mound for the Rock against Gannon University in their second playoff game of the post-season. Trivino was awarded first team, all-PSAC honors for his pitching efforts this season.
“It’s very exciting and I’m honored to be on it,” Trivono said. “I wish we had a few more wins under our belts, but we’re in playoffs and we’re doing well. I pitched today and we got the win.”
The Rock was able to win their first post-season game and avoid elimination after they fell to No. 14 West Chester University 4-1 on Wednesday.
In the victory, Slippery Rock allowed one run in the third inning and another in the top of the sixth inning before getting on the board with two runs in the bottom of the sixth.
Trivino pitched seven and one-third innings as the game extended into extra innings.
The Rock was able to score in the bottom of the ninth inning on John Shaffer’s RBI single to keep the Green and White alive in the playoffs.
In the game on Wednesday against West Chester, Slippery Rock was unable to get the bats going, as only one run crossed the plate for the Rock.
Zach Jeney threw a complete game, with nine strikeouts, six hits allowed, and four earned runs.
Shaffer went two for three and had Slippery Rock’s only RBI of the game.
Prior to the playoff’s beginning, Slippery Rock was able to make it as the fourth seed in the PSAC-West Division after winning two and losing two to California University of Pennsylvania over the weekend.
The Rock won their first meeting with Cal. U. by 7-1.
Brandon Myers and Carter Haponski led the way for the Green and White in the batter’s box by driving in two RBIs each, with a combined three hits.
Myers’ RBIs were the result of a two-run home run in the top of the 5th inning, where the Rock scored four of their seven runs.
Jeney threw a complete game with nine strikeouts and three hits allowed.
In game two of Friday’s doubleheader, Slippery Rock was unable to get the victory, falling to Cal. U. 3-2.
After giving up three runs in the first three innings of the game, the Rock fought back with two runs in the fifth and sixth innings, but were unable to plate the tying run in the seventh inning.
Freshman Garret Peterson pitched six innings and had seven strikeouts, but allowed the three runs for Cal. U. to score on five hits and four walks.
The weekend rounded out with Slippery Rock losing game one, but winning game two to get into the playoffs as the fourth seed in the PSAC-West Division. Game one ended on Saturday with the score at 3-1 in favor of Cal. U.
Trivino got the start for Slippery Rock and pitched five and two-thirds innings before John Kovalik came in for an inning and a third of relief. Trivino had three stikeouts against six hits allowed and three earned runs as he was given his third loss of the season.
Lee Foxton was the only Slippery Rock player able to score, as he crossed the plate in the 3rd inning on a single by John Shaffer.
Game two was a must win for Slippery Rock as their playoff fate came down to the final game of the season. Nic McCowin got the win for the green and white, as he pitched all but the final two outs of the game. McCowin recorded three strikeouts in the victory while allowing five hits and four walks, but was able to keep the shutout in tact until Ryan Oglesby came in for the save. Slippery Rock scored four runs on eight hits and two Cal. U. errors.
Myers says the team will work together to reach the next level of the post season.
“Our pitching has been great all year,” Myers said. “At the beginning of the season, our offense just wasn’t quite in sync, but now we’re getting hits when we need them and putting up runs. Now we’re just going to take it one game at a time and make a push towards the next step of playoffs. We need to stay together as a team.”
