SLIPPERY ROCK — Most baseball teams look for sparks from their offense.

John Sklarsky provided a big one with his team still in the field.

The Seneca Valley graduate and California (Pa.) University freshman reliever entered Friday night's game after Slippery Rock had loaded the bases in the top of the fourth inning and was sending its best hitter, Matt Adams, to the plate.

Sklarsky struck out the left-handed slugger to end the threat and the Vulcans responded by scoring three runs in the next half-inning before claiming a 7-2 win in a PSAC Tournament contest at SRU's Critchfield Park.

The win kept Cal alive in the double-elimination format. The Vulcans squared off against SRU after defeating Kutztown, 4-3, earlier in the day.

The Rock (33-14) will face Shippensburg, a 4-1 winner over East Stroudsburg, at 1 p.m. Saturday.

The winner will draw California (36-14) at 4:30 p.m. Saturday in the conference championship game.

Sklarsky, who was making his first appearance in the tournament, entered the game with a 2-0 record after pitching 20X\c innings in nine appearances during the regular season.

"This was my longest outing of the year," Sklarsky said. "I just wanted to come in, throw strikes and hit my spots."

The modest description of his thoughts as he walked from Cal's bullpen belie the situation he was facing.

Cal starter Andrew Rafalski had just walked his fifth batter of the game — SRU's Bill Herman with the bases loaded — which brought home Bill Messer with the game's first run.

Adams, who entered the tournament with a torrid .415 batting average, could've broken the game wide open.

Instead, he became the first of Sklarsky's four strikeouts.

"I ended up getting him to chase a high fastball," said Sklarsky.

"Matt's one of the best hitters in the conference," said Rock coach Jeff Messer. "And the majority of the time, he's going to come through for us in those situations."

Sklarsky then finished the game for Cal for his third win of the season, giving up four hits and walking one in 5Z\c innings. The long relief stint will undoubtedly help the Vulcans' pitching situation entering Saturday's championship game.

"He was incredible tonight," Vulcans' coach Mike Conte said. "But we weren't thinking about tomorrow. We just wanted to get there."

Cal's offense quickly gave Sklarsky the lead in the bottom of the fourth.

Chris Novia drove in Sam DiMatteo with a base hit off of SRU starter Chris Squeglia and Dave Sibenac followed with a two-run single for a 3-1 lead by the end of the frame.

Squeglia was pulled after 5Z\c innings with The Rock trailing 4-1.

But reliever Josh Rape was unable to keep SRU close.

After retiring the first two batters he faced in the bottom of the sixth, the Mars High graduate met with trouble in the seventh.

Jon Selby and Dustin Woodring both walked and ended up scoring on a double steal and wild pitch, respectively.

After another walk, a hit batsman and an RBI-single from Jeremy Potter, Rape was pulled in favor of Tom Turnbull.

But Cal's lone speed bump to victory came in the top of the ninth inning when Sklarsky gave up a double to Adams, which scored Herman.

Following a base hit from Dan Hudeck, M.J. Parsons grounded into a 4-6-3 double play to end the game.

The Rock stranded 11 baserunners in the game, including leaving the bases loaded in the second and fourth innings.

"We left a lot of guys on base, but it's not like we hit the ball well in those situations," Messer said. "You just have to give (Cal's) pitchers credit. They outplayed us in every phase of the game."

In PSAC Tournament games earlier Friday:

n Cal's Sam DiMatteo tripled in a run and Jeremy Potter added a run-scoring single to break a 1-all tie in the top of the fourth inning in the Vulcans' 4-3 win over Kutztown.

Jon Squeglia worked seven innings for the win, striking out four and surrendering one run on seven hits.

n Shippensburg's Andrew Burke received a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning and made it stand up, striking out 11 and giving up one run on four hits in a complete game, 4-1 win over East Stroudsburg.

Slippery Rock 000 100 001—2 7 3California (Pa.) 000 301 30x—7 8 0Chris Squeglia (6 K, 1 BB), Josh Rape (6, 0 K, 3 BB), Tom Turnbull (7, 1 K, 0 BB), Mike DeCola (8, 2 K, 1 BB) and Matt Adams; Andrew Rafalski (2 K 5 BB), John Sklarsky (4) and Dave Sibenac.

W: Sklarsky (4 K, 1 BB).

L: Squeglia (6 K, 1 BB).

Slippery Rock (33-14): Bill Herman 1B R RBI, Matt Adams 2B RBI, Dan Hudeck 1B, Scott Bender 1B, Jacob Oswalt 1B, Bill Messer R, Rich Michalek 2-1B SB

California (Pa.) (36-14): Dustin Woodring 1B R SB, Sam DiMatteo 1B 2R SB, Chris Novia 1B R RBI, Jeremy Potter 3-1B 2R RBI, Alex Lefcakis 2B RBI, Dave Sibenac 1B 2 RBI SB, Jon Selby R SB

Saturday: SRU vs. Shippensburg University, 1 p.m. at Critchfield Park; Winner vs. California (Pa.) at 4:30 p.m.,