The Slippery Rock baseball team swept the California University (Pa.) Vulcans Saturday afternoon in blowout fashion. The Rock scored 25 combined runs in the doubleheader, with the offense spread evenly between the two games.
In game one, the Green and White won 12-5 behind the bats of senior catcher Tyler Walters and junior shortstop Joe Campagna and the arm of junior pitcher Alex Pantuso.
Pantuso got the start on the mound, stifling the Vulcans’ offense through six innings before running into some trouble in the seventh. Pantuso gave up two earned runs, scattering five hits and three walks over 6.1 innings while striking out eight.
Slippery Rock got the scoring started early, pushing three runs across in both the first and second innings, the big blow coming in the form of a two-run home run off the bat of Walters in the second.
The Rock kept the offense hot, scoring three more runs in both the fifth and seventh innings off of a Campagna two-run home run and a Campagna two-tun double, respectively.
Junior pitcher Andrew Null ran into some trouble trying to close the game out in the bottom of the seventh in relief of Pantuso, giving up three earned runs before finally securing the final two outs to close out the game.
Junior pitcher Matt Gordon toed the rubber in game two for The Rock, struggling a bit but pitching well enough to get the win.
Game two started more low-scoring, entering the third inning only 1-0 in favor of SRU, but a Walters triple and another Campagna home run blew the game open for Slippery Rock. SRU scored four runs in the third, fourth and fifth innings en route to the 13-7 victory.
Highlighting the scoring was a fourth inning grand slam by senior first baseman Carson Kessler.
Gordon pitched 6.2 innings, giving up seven earned runs and striking out three.
On the day, The Rock was led by Walters, who went a combined 7-10 with a home run and a triple, four runs batted in and five runs scored. Kessler collected six hits with a home run and a double, eight runs batted in and four runs scored. Campagna finished 3-7 with two home runs, one double, six runs batted in and four runs scored.
The wins put The Rock at 20-13 this year, 11-7 in conference and in second place in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) West division.
