West Chester game boxscore

California game boxscore

JOHNSTOWN, Pa. -- The final curtain rang down on the 2010 Slippery Rock University baseball season Friday night when California (Pa.) nipped The Rock, 11-10, in the Bracket A final game of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference tournament at Point Stadium.

The season-ending loss came approximately eight hours after The Rock recorded possibly its most impressive win of the season, a 9-5 victory over sixth-ranked West Chester in an elimination game.

The split in Friday's action gave The Rock a final season record of 27 wins and 23 losses. The Green and White won seven of their last 10 games and 11 of their final 16 games.

California 11, The Rock 10

The Rock's final game of the season was a classic nip-and-tuck affair in which a total of 28 hits were recorded (17 by The Rock), the lead changed hands three times and the outcome was not determined until the final out was recorded.

SRU took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning on an RBI groundout by junior shortstop Adam Jury and an RBI infield single by freshman third baseman Jamison Walck.

California trimmed the margin in half with a run in the top of the third, then took a 3-2 lead on a two-run home run by Kyle Petty in the top of the fourth.

The Rock regained the lead, 6-3, with four runs in the bottom of the fifth. Senior second baseman Billy Messer plated the tying run with a groundout RBI before Walck, junior first baseman Derek DiRuscia and senior designated hitter Jacob Oswalt each slapped RBI singles.

That lead stood until the top of the seventh, when California scored six runs to take a lead it would not relinquish. But the 9-6 lead almost did not stand up.

A triple by sophomore left fielder Carter Haponski and Jury's second RBI groundout of the game played a Rock run in the bottom of the eighth to trim the margin to two, 9-7.

California came right back with two runs in the top of the ninth to take an 11-7 lead, only to see The rock score three runs in the bottom of the ninth and have the potential tying run on first base when the final out of the game was recorded.

Oswalt smacked an RBI double to plate The Rock's first ninth-inning run. Junior center fielder Matt Howard's RBI single plated the second run and he came around to score what proved to be the final run of the season on a wild pitch.

Just prior to Howard scoring on the wild pitch, California relief pitcher Nick Schreiber unleashed another potential run-scoring wild pitch with Oswalt on third base. An unfortunate bounce off the backstop brought the ball directly back to Petty, the Vulcans' catcher, who was then able to get Oswalt caught in a rundown between third base and home plate and ultimately tagged out for the second out of the inning.

Oswalt, Walck and Haponski each had three hits to pace The Rock's 17-hit attack while Howard and DiRuscia each had two hits.

Oswalt and Walck each collected two RBIs to lead The Rock in that category, while DiRuscia, Howard and Messer each picked up one RBI.

Junior southpaw Jason Steen was tagged with the loss after he allowed six earned runs on four hits, struck out one and walked three in two and one-third innings in relief of starter Vince Lloyd.

Lloyd, a senior right-hander, yielded three earned runs on five hits, struck out four and walked one in the first four frames.

Junior southpaw  Zach Jeney pitched the final two and two-thirds innings and allowed two runs (one earned) on two hits, struck out one and walked three.

Rock 9, West Chester 5

The Rock scored four runs in the bottom of the first inning and never looked back in Friday's first game as they eliminated the sixth-ranked Golden Rams from the conference tournament.

The key hit in the rally was a two-run single by DiRuscia that pushed across the final two tallies. Jury plated the first run with an RBI single before the second run trotted home on a sacrifice fly by Walck.

DiRuscia and Jury were two of the five players who each had two hits in the 11-hit Rock attack.

Junior catcher Mitchell Monas' fourth home run of the season, a two-run shot in the bottom of the second, extended The Rock's lead to 6-0 and ultimately accounted for the winning runs. Monas was also included in the group of Rock players who had two hits in the game. 

Messer's two-run single in the fourth put The Rock on top by an 8-3 score after West Chester had clawed back with a run in the top of the third and two tallies in the top of the fourth. Messer also finished the game with two hits.

The final Rock run came on an RBI single by sophomore right fielder Matt Kosik in the bottom of the seventh that gave SRU a 9-4 lead after West Chester scored once in the top of the sixth. 

Howard was the other Rock player to collect two hits in the game as SRU outhit WCU by an 11-10 margin.

The Golden Rams got their final run of the game in the top of the ninth off Steen, who relieved starting and winning pitcher Don Pugliese.

Steen entered the game with the bases loaded and two outs in the top of the eighth inning and induced the next batter to hit an inning- and rally-ending fly ball to Kosik in right field.

Steen then yielded one earned run on one hit, struck out two and walked two in the top of the ninth to close out the win. 

Pugliese scattered nine hits, allowed four earned runs, struck out five and walked four in the first seven and two-thirds inning to improve his season record to 4-2.

Notes:

Friday's win over West Chester avenged a 7-6 loss to the Golden Rams in a first-round game last Wednesday, a game in which The Rock scored four runs in the top of the first inning … The Rock scored at least two runs in its first at-bat of all four games in the PSAC tournament ... Friday's loss was the fifth suffered by The Rock in as many games vs. California this spring. The Vulcans won all four games of a March 13-14 series in Savannah, Ga. to open this spring's PSAC-Western Division schedule  ... Friday morning's win over West Chester was the second straight recorded by The Rock against a team ranked among the top four in the latest NCAA Division II Atlantic Regional poll. Mansfield was the No. 4 team in last week's regional poll ... The Rock competed in the PSAC championships for the fifth straight season and 20th time in 25 seasons under the guidance of head coach Jeff Messer … The Rock is now 4-2 all-time in PSAC tournament games against both West Chester and California.