After a week where the Slippery Rock Baseball offense only got going two or three times out of nine games, the bats have started to find their rhythm.
The Rock’s Tuesday doubleheader at home against Mansfield University was the start.
The White and Green opened scoring in the bottom of the second inning on a Colin Cain RBI single, scoring Joey Purcell.
SRU then allowed two runs in the third but responded with four of their own in the fourth and fifth innings, which would prove to be all the offense needed in this one. All four runs came around on home runs, with Luke Trueman bringing in Purcell on the first and Joseph Ehland bringing in Robby Barrientos on the second.
The Rock rode a pitching performance that only allowed two runs through six innings and, despite allowing two more in the seventh, finished off the game with Eoin Rossman getting the win. Robert Herr started the game, allowing two runs over four and a third innings while striking out three.
Trueman finished the day with three hits, one home run and two RBI.
Game two got off to a good start with SRU bringing in four runs through three innings on a Darryn Callahan sacrifice fly, a double by Herr, a single by Ehland and a Noah Ross single.
Mansfield started their offensive run shortly after in the top of the fourth with a one-run groundout. That run would not prove to be damning, but the next events to transpire would.
The Mansfield lineup batted around, including a stretch of four straight batters reaching base, and brought in six runs. The Rock would not recover from the deficit.
Trueman had another good game with two hits, one run and one RBI, but Noah Ross outshined him in this one as he had a three-hit day with one RBI and one run scored.
They may have lost, but the ten hits collected and five runs scored, along with five more in the previous game, helped build some consistency into the lineup.
Slippery Rock’s offensive prowess continued into the start of their series against Gannon University as they scored seven runs through five innings. However, Gannon was also able to get off to a fast start, scoring six runs in the first.
SRU had a complete offensive attack with four batters recording two hits and six players recording a run, but errors were the downfall in this one.
The Rock only allowed one earned run after the first inning on the back of a great outing by Parker Hogge, but two unearned runs gave Gannon the win.
The second game looked like it would start out poorly, but Rock pitching locked it down after one run allowed in the first. SRU responded with two runs on a Trueman two-run home run in the second inning which would prove to be all they needed.
Singles by Ehland and Olson in the sixth brought in three insurance runs for good measure. Those extra runs solidified The Rock’s recent offensive surge, as they have scored at least five runs in four straight games.
Joey Purcell was responsible for the dominance on the mound, picking up the win in a five-strikeout shutout.
Slippery Rock has some ground to make up, but they have been hitting well recently and look to push into the playoffs despite a slow start.
They continue the Series against Gannon on Sunday in an attempt to gain PSAC ground.
