SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. - Nick Hess collected five hits and the Crimson Hawks got standout pitching from Jimmy Tooley and the bullpen as the IUP baseball team swept 22nd-ranked Slippery Rock Tuesday afternoon. The Hawks won by scores of 3-2 and 8-5 at Critchfield Park to take the regular season series win, three games to one.

IUP has now won three straight and seven of its last nine overall to improve to 10-7 and 3-1 in PSAC West divisional play. The Rock entered the series undefeated but is now 11-3 overall and 1-3 in the division.

Game one
Tooley pitched a gem in the opener, scattering two hits as the game was scoreless through four innings. In the fifth The Rock capitalized on a leadoff walk and three singles to score two runs, but the freshman lefty worked out of a bases loaded jam to strand three runners.

Head coach Steve Kline brought Tooley out again in the sixth, again giving up a leadoff walk before retiring three straight batters to keep the score 2-0.

With the Hawks acting as the home team, they exploded in the bottom half of the inning as Markus Cestra and Austin Mueller hit back-to-back doubles. Nick Hess followed with an RBI single to bring Mueller around and tie the game at 2-2. Two batters later Torrey Roper brought Hess around with a single to left and the eventual game-winning run. 

Eli Glass came out of the pen to lock down the seventh and earn the save by retiring three straight batters. 

Game two
The Hawks had a rough start as SRU put four runs on the board in the top of the first on the strength of a grand slam. 

IUP came back in the bottom half with a two-run homer by Hess to make it 4-2.

IUP relievers Joe Dolansky and Billy Welsh kept The Rock off the scoreboard for the next four innings. The Hawks took the lead with four runs in the third, as Hess doubled home a run and Roper later followed with a 3-run homer. 

SRU picked up one run in the sixth to make it a 6-5 game, but Glass worked out of a tight one to strand a pair of runners. Harrison Pontoli led off the bottom half with a double and later scored on a Mueller double, who also came around when Hess ripped a double to give IUP an 8-5 lead.

Glass finished things off with his second save of the day with a double play and strikeout in the seventh.

At the plate
Nick Hess: 5-7, 3 R, 2B, HR, 5 RBI
Torrey Roper: 3-6, HR, 4 RBI
Austin Mueller: 2-5, 2 R, 2 2B, 2 RBI

On the mound
Jimmy Tooley: W (3-0), 6.0 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 8 K
Joe Dolansky: W (1-0), 3.1 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 2 BB, 1 K
Eli Glass: 2 S (3), 3.0 IP, 0 H, 0 ER, 3 BB, 2 K

Up next
The Hawks host Walsh in a non-conference doubleheader on Wednesday at Dougherty Field.

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