Game 1 boxscore
Game 2 boxscore

CLARION, Pa. – Sophomore left-hander Joby Lapkowicz pitched a seven-inning no-hit shutout Sunday afternoon to lead the Slippery Rock University baseball team to a 7-0 win in the second game of a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference-Western Division doubleheader at Clarion University.

Clarion (5-16 overall, 3-3 PSAC-W) won the first game by a 4-2 score and finished the weekend with a 2-2 split in the four-game series vs. The Rock (16-10, 5-3 PSAC-W).

Lapkowicz's gem was the first no-hitter thrown by a Rock pitcher since Mike Sikorski handcuffed Kutztown University in a first-round game of the 2003 NCAA Division II North Atlantic Regional tournament at SRU's Jack Critchfield Park.

Clarion got six runners on base against Lapkowicz, who struck out a career-nine batters and issued four bases on balls. The other two Golden Eagle baserunners reached on fielding errors by Rock infielders.

After retiring Clarion in order in the bottom of the first inning, Lapkowicz worked himself into a minor jam in the second inning when he walked two batters, but left the lead runner on second base with a strikeout to end the threat.

Clarion had runners on second and third bases with only one out in the bottom of the third thanks to a base on balls, an error and a wild pitch, but again Lapkowicz worked out of the jam, this time via a strikeout and a flyout by back-to-back hitters.

The hosts went down in order in the fourth, then got the leadoff hitter on base with a walk in the fifth, only to have Lapkowicz getting a strikeout and inning-ending double-play groundout.

Clarion got the leadoff hitter on base again in the sixth thanks to the second Rock fielding error and moved him around to third base with a stolen base and ground out, only to see him stranded 90 feet from home plate by an inning-ending ground out.

Lapkowicz slammed the door on any Clarion last-inning comeback by inducing a lineout and recording the final two strikeouts of the game.

Sunday's seven-inning shutout extended Lapkowicz's current string of scoreless innings to 17 innings, which stretches back three-plus games to his March 10 start vs. Ashland (Ohio) University in Lakeland, Fla.

The Rock gave Lapkowicz (3-2) all the support he would ultimately need Sunday in the top of the third inning when the Green and White plated three runs on  four hits, highlighted by RBI singles by junior right fielder Derek Carr and senior center fielder Matt Howard.

SRU extended its lead to 4-0 with a run in the fourth, manufactured from a single by senior first baseman Derek DiRuscia, a sacrifice bunt by sophomore third baseman Jamison Walck and an RBI single by senior designated hitter Mitchell Monas.

The final three runs were scored in the fifth inning on a sacrifice fly by senior shortstop Adam Jury and a run-producing ground ball by DiRuscia that Clarion mishandled.

Carr, Howard and DiRuscia were among a group of five Rock players who had two hits in the game to pace a 13-hit Rock offensive attack. Junior second baseman Lee Foxton and freshman catcher Kevin Jovanovich also had two hits each. There were no extra-base hits in the game.

The Rock collected eight hits in Sunday's first game, but were only able to convert those into a pair of runs.

DiRuscia led off the top of the second inning with a double and trotted home on a pair of Clarion errors to tie the score at 1-1.

After Clarion scored twice in the fifth and once in the sixth to take a 4-1 lead, The Rock got its final run in the top of the seventh thanks to doubles by Jury and Monas sandwiched around a single by Walck.

Monas' double pushed Walck around to third base and put the potential tying run on second base with only one out, but Clarion relief pitcher Eric Panko slammed the door on The Rock comeback by recording back-to-back strikeouts.

Foxton and Walck were the only Rock players to pick up more than one hit in the first game.

Rock starting pitcher Lou Trivino was tagged with the loss, his first in three decisions this spring, after he allowed three earned runs on four hits, struck out five and walked four in the first four and one-third innings. Fellow freshman right-hander Ryan Oglesby allowed one earned run on one hit and struck out one in the final one and two-thirds innings.

SRU is idle until Friday, when it will host Gannon University in a 1 p.m. PSAC-West twinbill at Critchfield Park.