SLIPPERY ROCK — Slippery Rock baseball coach Nathan McCollough was hoping for a quick conclusion to his team’s marathon game with rival Grove City.

He got it.

After the Eagles and Rockets were tied at 3 following 12 innings of play Wednesday, the game was suspended due to darkness. Play resumed in the top of the 13th on Thursday and it took just one inning to settle things.

Slippery Rock’s Zach Van Dyke led off the bottom of the frame with an infield single off of Eagles’ reliever Trey Adams. Van Dyke moved to second base on Gunner Becker’s sacrifice bunt. Following an intentional walk to Danny Williams, Dylan Dingel smacked a base hit to center field, where Grove City’s Nick Davies bobbled the ball. But that made no difference to McCollough, who gave the green light to Van Dyke from the third-base coach’s box.

“I had already made my mind up to send him,” said McCollough. “The grass was a little wet out there and it would have taken a perfect throw to get him. We’re an aggressive team.”

Van Dyke scored easily to give the Rockets a 4-3 Region 6-AAA victory.

“This win is huge,” said McCollough. “It’s always big to get a conference win no matter who it’s against.”

The Eagles (3-5, 2-1) let victory slip from their grasp on Wednesday when a potential game-ending pop-up was misplayed on the infield, allowing Williams to score the tying run in the bottom of the 12th inning.

“I told our guys that we were given a gift yesterday and we can’t take that for granted,” said McCollough.

Dingel’s game-winning hit also made him the winning pitcher. He pitched innings 10-12 on Wednesday and worked a scoreless 13th Thursday.

“He threw 40 pitches yesterday,” said McCollough. “He’s a guy we can trust to let us know what his arm is capable of.”

The Eagles had a runner in scoring position in the top of the 13th, but Dingel denied them the lead.

Leading off, Logan Minch singled off the glove of Slippery Rock first baseman Jackson Kerchis. He was moved to second on Brayden Martin’s sacrifice bunt and advanced to third base when Adams grounded out. Ben McKnight then lined out to end the threat.

It seemed only fitting that Becker had a hand in the winning run with his sacrifice bunt for Slippery Rock. The junior pitched nine innings on Wednesday, giving up just two unearned runs with eight strikeouts and one walk.

“The coaches kept asking me how I felt (Wednesday) and I kept saying that I felt good. I seemed to get stronger as the game went on,” Becker said.

Grove City coach Billy Herman was unavailable for comment.

Grove City 010 010 000 001 0 — 3 12 5

Slippery Rock 010 100 000 001 1 — 4 9 4

W: Dylan Dingel 4 IP (0K, 0BB). L: Trey Adams 1/3 IP (0K, 1BB).

Grove City (3-5, 2-1): Kyle Shingledecker 1B RBI, Carter Chinn 1B 2B 2R, Xian Messett 1B RBI, Brandon Dennis 1B, Nick Davies 1B, Logan Minch 2-1B R, Colton Eccles 2-1B, Ben McKnight 1B, Devin Reynolds 1B

Slippery Rock (6-3, 1-1): Zach Van Dyke 1B 2B R, Gunner Becker 1B, Danny Williams 3-1B 2R, Josh Bowser 1B RBI, Cody Lawniczak RBI, Dylan Dingel 2-1B RBI, Patrick Busa R

Today: Slippery Rock at Franklin; Hickory at Grove City