Game 1 boxscore
Game 2 boxscore

LOCK HAVEN, Pa. -- The Slippery Rock University baseball team earned a split with Lock Haven Friday afternoon in a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference-Western Division doubleheader played in chilly conditions at LHU, winning the opener 11-10 in eight innings and dropping the nightcap 10-0.

The Rock led 10-2 in the seventh inning of the opener before the Bald Eagles rallied with eight runs in the bottom of the inning to tie the game and send it into extra innings.

Rock junior shortstop Adam Jury scored from second base on an RBI single by junior catcher/first baseman Derek DiRuscia to account for the winning run the top of the eighth inning of the first game. Sophomore southpaw Jason Steen then struck out all three batters to face him in the bottom of the eighth to preserve the win.

Jury was 3-for-5 with two runs scored and one RBI to pace a 16-hit Rock attack in the game. Six other players had two hits each, including senior designated hitter Jacob Oswalt, who hit his second home run of the season, a solo shot in the top of the fifth inning.

DiRuscia, junior center fielder Matt Howard, junior right fielder Mitchell Monas and senior second baseman Billy Messer each had a double for SRU.

Senior right-hander Justin Thomas, the third pitcher used by veteran Rock head coach Jeff Messer, was credited with the win after he allowed one unearned run on one hit, walked one and hit one batter in one-third of an inning.

Steen picked up his second save of the season with his three-strikeout closing effort in the bottom of the eighth.

Rock starting pitcher George Hebert allowed two earned runs on five hits, struck out two and walked four in the first six innings and appeared to be in position to pick up his fifth win of the season against only one loss.

But Lock Haven had other ideas and scored seven runs on five hits in two-thirds of an inning off Rock reliever Cory Johnson in the top of the seventh. The sophomore right-hander also walked one batter before being lifted in favor of Thomas.

Lock Haven finished the first game with 11 hits. The Rock committed five errors in the game while the Bald Eagles made four errors.

Neither team scored a run in the first four and a half innings of the second game before Lock Haven plated five runs in both the bottom of the fifth and bottom of the sixth frames.

The Bald Eagles outhit SRU by a 10-6 margin and overcame three errors, while The Rock played errorless defense.

Billy Messer was 3-for-3 to lead The Rock hitting attack and was the only SRU player to have more than one hit in the game. All The Rock hits were singles.

Rock second-game starting pitcher Joby Lapkowicz suffered his fourth loss in five decisions this spring. The freshman southpaw allowed five runs (four earned) on five hits, struck four, walked eight and hit one batter in the first five innings,.

Junior southpaw John Thomas allowed five earned runs on five hits, struck out one and walked one in the final inning.

The Rock (16-18 overall, 9-9 PSAC-West) and Bald Eagles (9-21, 1-13) are scheduled close out their four-game weekend series with a 1 p.m. doubleheader Saturday at Jack Critchfield Park in Slippery Rock.

Friday's split, coupled with a doubleheader sweep by California at Gannon, moved The Rock two games behind fourth-place Gannon in the battle for one of the top four spots in the PSAC-West standings.

The top four teams in the standings at the end of regular-season competition will earn berths in the conference tournament April 28-May 1 in Johnstown.