Harrisburg Patriot-News' PSAC tournament preview story

ABCA national poll

NCBWA regional and national polls

JOHNSTOWN, Pa. -- The Slippery Rock University baseball team faces a stiff challenge Wednesday when it opens Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Baseball Championships competition at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday against nationally-ranked West Chester at Point Stadium.

West Chester, the defending PSAC and NCAA Division II Atlantic Regional champion, owns a 35-10 record and is tied for sixth place in this week's National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association national poll and 13th in this week's American Baseball Coaches Association national poll.

The Golden Rams, this year's PSAC-Eastern Division champions, were also ranked first in both last week's NCAA and this week's NCBWA regional polls. The NCAA poll will ultimately determine which teams earn berths in the regional tournament May 13-16.

The Rock, which will take a 25-21 record into Wednesday's game, received votes in this week's NCBWA regional poll but were not among the eight teams ranked in last week's NCAA regional poll.

SRU is competing in the PSAC Championships for the fifth straight season and 20th time in veteran head coach Jeff Messer's 25 seasons at the helm and seeks the school's fifth conference championship. The Rock's most recent conference title came in 2001.

Junior center fielder Matt Howard is The Rock's top hitter with a .405 batting average, nine doubles, a team-high seven triples, four home runs and 24 RBIs. He also leads the team in stolen bases with 17 successes in 20 attempts.

Freshman third baseman Jamison Walck is second on the team with a .388 average, seven doubles, two triples, one home run and 24 RBIs. Senior second baseman Billy Messer, the star of last Sunday's 4-3 come-from-behind win over Lake Erie College of Ohio, is hitting .373 with 17 doubles, two triples, two home runs and 29 RBIs.

Junior shortstop Adam Jury (.329) leads The Rock in RBIs with 37, followed by sophomore right fielder Matt Kosik with 35, junior first baseman Derek DiRuscia with 31 and junior catcher Mitchell Monas with 30. Kosik is the top home run hitter with six, while DiRuscia has a team-high 21 doubles (three shy of the school record).

Junior right-hander George Hebert leads The Rock pitching staff with a 6-1 record and 3.23 earned run average. Senior right-hander Don Pugliese and junior southpaw Zack Jeney are both 3-2 and have a 3.75 ERA. Freshman southpaw Joby Lapkowicz has a team-high 61 strikeouts in 50 innings. Hebert and Pugliese are tied for the team lead in complete games with four each.

As a team, The Rock is hitting .323 (6th in the PSAC) and have a 5.74 ERA (7th in the PSAC).

The winner of Wednesday's Rock-West Chester game returns at 3;30 p.m. Thursday to meet the winner of Wednesday's first opening-round game (9:30 a.m.) between PSAC-West No. 2 seed California and PSAC-East No. 3 seed Mansfield.

The losers of The Rock-West Chester and California-Mansfield games will meet in an elimination game at 9:30 a.m. Thursday, with the loser of that game earning the dubious distinction of being the first team to exit the eight-team, double-elimination tournament.

Wednesday's third opening-round game pits PSAC-West No. 3 seed Mercyhurst against PSAC-East No. 2 seed Kutztown, while the final game on Wednesday will be a duel between PSAC-West champion Indiana and PSAC-East No. 4 seed East Stroudsburg.

The PSAC Baseball Championships run through Saturday. The tournament champion earns an automatic berth in the NCAA regional tournament.

Live stats and live audiocasts of all Rock games in the PSAC Baseball Championships will be available via www.rockathletics.com and the MSA Sports Network (www.msasports.net). Links to the live stats and/or live audiocasts can be found on the front page of www.rockathletics.com via the "Live Stats" and "Listen Live" icons on the right-hand side of the page.