SLIPPERY ROCK— When it counted, Slippery Rock University was at its best.

Derek Blyzwick pitched a two-hitter, his fielders played errorless baseball and The Rock banged out 13 hits against one of the PSAC's best pitchers in defeating Shippensburg, 6-1, in the first game of a doubleheader Friday afternoon at Critchfield Park.

The victory was SRU's seventh in a row and The Rock clinched its 18th PSACTournament berth in Jeff Messer's 22 years as head coach.

The win streak ended in the nightcap as Rock pitcher Mark Tanner failed to last two innings in a 7-4 loss.

"Blyz came up big for us,"Messer said. "He set the tone for the whole game. This was his best outing all year."

Blyzwick threw 96 pitches — 59 strikes — and allowed only a pair of third-inning singles. He retired 13 of the final 14 batters he faced.

"Everything was working for him,"Shippensburg coach Matt Jones said. "His fastball, breaking ball, changeup were all in there for strikes. He had tremendous command."

And he received unexpected run support early. SRUwas facing sophomore left-hander Matt Wright, who entered the game with a 5-1 record, 1.74 earned run average and 72 strikeouts in 57 innings.

SRUjumped on Wright for six runs and 10 hits in the first four innings.

"Getting a lead early against a guy like that is such a huge factor,"Blyzwick said. "It made me feel so much more comfortable on the mound.

"The fourth inning was the biggest for me today. I look at that inning as getting over the hump. It's the middle of the game and once I had an easy inning there, I felt like I had it."

Blyzwick retired the Red Raiders in order in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings.

In the meantime, Rock hitters were hitting Wright often. Grove City product Billy Herman doubled in the first inning after Phil Butch singled and was picked off first base. Matt Adams singled to center to plate Herman.

Karns City graduate Travis Trimbur delivered a run-scoring single in the second and Adams delivered a two-out RBIdouble. M.J. Parsons homered to right leading off the third inning and connected for a two-out, two-run single in the fourth.

Adams, a freshman catcher, and Parsons, a junior center fielder, began the day hitting .410 and .403, respectively. They combined for five hits, five RBIand a pair of runs scored in Friday's first game.

Shippensburg began the weekend trying to hold off California (Pa.) and SRUfor the PSACWest regular season title. The Red Raiders had a one-game lead over both teams and end the regular season by hosting a 1 p.m. doubleheader against The Rock Saturday.

SRUhosts the double-elimination PSACTournament beginning Wednesday afternoon.

Game 1Shippensburg 001 000 0—1 2 0Slippery Rock 121 200 x—6 13 0Matt Wright (L, 8K, 2BB), Tyler Redick (7, 1K, 0BB) and Jared Boger; Derek Blyzwick (W, 3K, 3BB) and Matt Adams.

Shippensburg: Justin Garber 1BRBI, Eric Dezell 1B

SRU: Phil Butch 2-1B, Billy Herman 2-1B2-R, Matt Adams 2-2B 1B2-RBI, M.J. Parsons HR 1B3-RBI, Scott Bender 2B 1B, Jim Eimiller 2B, Travis Trimbur 1BRBI

Game 2Shippensburg 330 001 0—7 10 0Slippery Rock 021 010 0—4 11 0Andrew Burke (W, 3K, 4BB), Brian Boylan (7, 0K, 0BB) and Sean Killian; Mark Tanner (L, 2K,1BB), Craig Misiewicz (2, 5K, 0bb) and Jim Eimiller.

Shippensburg (23-18, 13-5): Tyler Redick 2-1BRBI, Justin Garber 1B2-R, Scott Goss 3-1B 2-RBI, Kasey Kuhns 1BRBI, Scott Stern 2B2-RBI, Kyle Rhoades 1B2-R, Eric Dezell 1B

SRU(19-13, 12-6): Phil Butch 1B, Matt Adams 1B 2BHR, Dan Hudeck 2B, M.J. Parsons 2B, Scott Bender 2-2B, Jim Eimiller 2-2B2-RBI, Jacob Oswalt 2BRBI

Saturday: SRUatShippensburg, 1 p.m.