COLLEGE BASEBALL Rock redemption: Slippery Rock is regional champ

A sweep of Shippensburg resulted in a World Series berth.
By BILL ALBRIGHT
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. -- One week ago in Boyertown, the Slippery Rock University baseball team came up one win short of its goal to win the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference championship, finishing second to Shippensburg.
With the disappointment behind them, The Rock took care of business Saturday at Jack Critchfield Park as SRU swept the Red Raiders by scores of 10-1 and 7-5 to capture the NCAA Division II North Atlantic Regional title.
"I think we were experienced after Boyertown," chuckled SRU coach Jeff Messer. "After losing a game early in the tournament, we knew we could come back and win. After last week, they realize that you have to take it one game at a time, and today, they weren't going to be denied."
As a result of winning the regional championship, The Rock (48-11) earned a trip to the NCAA Division II College World Series that will begin Saturday in Montgomery, Ala. They will meet Franklin Pierce College (30-15) of New Hampshire in the first round of the World Series tournament.
Explosive offense
In the first game, The Rock jumped all over Shipp starter Ben Boyles for a 5-0 lead after six innings before adding five more runs in the seventh for the 10-1 final.
The big blow for The Rock was a three-run homer to left by designated hitter Billy Wolfe in the first inning.
The Rock pounded out 15 hits in the win, led by Wolfe's three hits, three more from Alan Reichl and two apiece from Nathan Statzer and Brandon Stewart. Nick Armstrong went the distance to pick up the win as he scattered eight hits and walked four, allowing just the one unearned run.
After watching his team's bats go somewhat silent down the stretch of the regular season, Messer was happy with the offensive output of his club as they recorded 27 hits in the two games.
"I honestly didn't think that we were going to be held down for four or five games," said Messer.
"I knew this [breaking out of it] was going to happen sooner or later, and fortunately for us, it happened sooner. We saw some good pitching, but I think some of our hitters were just a little bit undisciplined for a few games."
Rematch
In the nightcap, The Rock again jumped on top with three runs in the fourth, but Shippensburg, aided by a costly error, answered with four runs in the bottom of the frame.
Not to be denied, Slippery Rock regained the lead with two runs in the fifth before adding single tallies in the seventh and ninth innings for the 7-5 final.
Again The Rock spread the offensive wealth around as Reichl led the way with another 3-hit game, Reichl joined in the multiple-hit category by Statzer, Wolfe and Chase Rowe with two hits apiece.
Doing the mound work for SRU in the title game was Grove City native Dave Sansom as he surrendered four earned runs on 11 hits in 71/3 innings of work. Sansom walked one and struck out three.
"Sansom has been there before and today, he just gutted it out," said Messer.
"He was tired, but his 75 percent is better than a lot of guys' 100 percent and that is why we tried to stay with him as long as we could."
Closing it out
When Sansom departed, Rocky D'Angelo came on to slam the door shut on the Red Raiders as he worked the final 12/3 innings, allowing two harmless hits while striking out one.
"I think I pitched pretty well today, but I probably could have done a little better," said Sansom about his effort.
"I got a few more pitches in the zone a little above the waist than I wanted to. In the inning they scored the four runs, we made some mistakes and a couple of errors, but those things happen. You just have to work through them and we were able to do that."