2008 Woodie Awards
Baseball falters at PSAC Championships, finishes 25-23 on year
By Nicolas Lewis
Rocket Contributor
Issue date: 5/2/08 Section: Sports
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It looked a little like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde at first, but the team won when they had to and worked its way into the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference playoffs.
The long weekend began with a doubleheader at Jack Critchfield Park against their regional rival, the Seton Hill Griffins.
The team got behind 10-1 early in the first game and charged back, but fell short and wound up losing by a 10-9 final score.
In the second game, junior stasrter Mark Tanner shut down the Griffon's bats, and the Rock earned a split of the double header with a 2-0 victory in game two.
Tanner (1-2), who had struggled most of the season with an elbow injury, had posted an ERA of 32.50 in only five innings of work coming into the game, threw a complete game three-hit shutout, striking out eight and walking four.
"I was worried we might have a letdown after coming back and just falling short in the first game," Head Coach Jeff Messer said. "Mark is finally healthy and pitched a great game for us."
SRU then welcomed the Clarion Golden Eagles to town the very next day, and the game began much like the previous.
Senior starter Chris Squeglia struggled to get the Clarion lineup under control, and the Eagles used several singles and a home run to charge out to a 7-1 lead after three innings.
Clarion held the lead into the bottom of the fifth inning, when Rock junior outfielder Scott Bender launched a homerun over the bleachers in left field.
"It felt good," Bender said. "I've been hitting a lot of doubles, but I think my power stroke is starting to come back around."
Unfortunately it was just a solo homerun, and the Rock struggled to put more offense on the board as outfielders Adam Foltz and Kirk Hays made two spectacular diving catches for Clarion to end a couple of Rock rallies.
"That was amazing," Messer said. "Especially since I was talking to (Clarion's) coach and he said those weren't catches they usually make. That was killer."
However, sophomore reliever Justin Thomas put up four scoreless innings of relief, and the Rock hitters found their swing in the bottom of the sixth to keep the pressure on.
Hits by Hudeck and senior center fielder MJ Parsons brought in four runs, all scored with two outs, to cut the score to a 7-6 deficit, but it wasn't quite enough.
Left fielder Jacob Oswalt popped out too short to end the threat, and the Rock went quietly in the seventh inning to bring an end to the first game.
For the second day in a row, a completely different SRU team showed up for the back half of the doubleheader.
A third inning triple by Bender brought in a run, and he scored soon after a single by sophomore catcher Matt Adams to give SRU a 2-0 lead.
Sophomore starter Rich Hocanson again pitched through an upper back injury he re-aggravated and put together an impressive performance.
He allowed eight runners to reach base in his five innings of work, but kept all but one of them from scoring, allowing SRU to head into the sixth inning with a 2-1 lead.
Freshman reliever Brett Vescovi came in and posted two shutout innings of relief, including three strikeouts, and the Rock walked away with their second split in as many days.
The back-to-back splits on Thursday and Friday left the Rock in control of its own playoff destiny.
They needed to win both games Saturday in order to earn a third consecutive PSAC playoff berth.
It was obvious from the start that the team was up to the task.
SRU's first four runners reached base on the way to scoring four runs in the top of the first inning, a lead that they would hold and build on as the game progressed.
"It was good to score early and take (Clarion) out of the game emotionally," said Coach Messer. "We got those early runs and took away their home field advantage."
Junior starter Don Pugliese scattered eight base runners over his seven innings of work to earn his first win of the season and leave the Rock one win away from a likely playoff berth.
The momentum continued in the second game, as SRU sent all nine hitters to the plate in the first inning to take an early 6-0 lead.
That lead looked to be in danger, as starter Vince Lloyd left the game after only two batters with a freak injury to his pitching hand.
"He cut the index finger on his pitching hand reaching for some dirt on the mound," Messer said. "With the NCAA rules, you have to get that taken care of right away, and we had to replace him earlier than we wanted."
Fortunately, the Slippery Rock offense could do no wrong and went on to score a whopping 23 runs for the game, including 11 in the final frame, led by a grand slam by first baseman Adams.
"It felt good, I sat back and made sure to wait for my pitch," Adams said.
Unfortunately, the good feelings couldn't continue when the team headed to Lancaster, Pa. for the PSAC playoffs.
The Rock played their first game against Millersville University, getting off to a great start, as shortstop Rich Michalek and right fielder Scott Bender both reached base and then came around to score, contributing to a 3-0 lead that the team managed to hold until the middle of the eighth inning.Senior starter Chris Squeglia pitched seven solid innings, allowing only five runners before running into trouble in the eighth.
He allowed singles to the first two batters he faced and then walked a third to load the bases before he left the game.
Senior reliever Mike DeCola came on in relief, but no to avail. DeCola hit the first batter he faced to bring in a run.
A groundout brought home Millersville's second run of the game to make it 3-2.
Then, the wheels fell off.
DeCola gave up a three-run home run to Millersville outfielder Enrique Arroyo to give the Marauders a 5-3 lead heading into the ninth.
The Rock managed to get the tying run to second in the top half of the ninth, before Parsons lined out to second to end the game.
The Rock continued play with an elimination game against the West Chester Rams the following day, and the result was a lot like the previous day.
The two teams battled back and forth early on, with SRU getting a towering home run to right field by MJ Parsons, and the game was tied 2-2 at the end of five innings.
Junior starter Don Pugliese hit five batters and walked another three in his 4.2 innings of work, but his defense bailed hm out and kept West Chester from taking the lead.
The score was still the same heading into the ninth inning when senior reliever Craig Misiewicz returned to the mound for a second inning to extend the game for Slippery Rock.
Unfortunately, the Rams had Misiewicz figured out, as he allowed three earned runs and was saddled with a loss that left SRU heading home as the first team eliminated from the PSAC playoffs.
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