SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – The Saint Anselm College baseball team grabbed an early lead but No. 30 Slippery Rock University used an eight-run fifth inning to post an 18-8 win in the series finale on Sunday.

The Hawks fall to 7-10 on the season while the Rock improve to 10-0. Saint Anselm opens Northeast-10 Conference play on Friday, Mar. 25 when Bentley University comes to the Hilltop for a 3 p.m. first pitch from Sullivan Park.

Senior Mike Pierro (North Andover, Mass.) paced the Hawks offense with three hits while classmate Kyle Maurice (Exeter, N.H.) and junior Brady Doran (Greenville, S.C.) recorded two hits each. Maurice drove in a team-high three runs while Pierro drove in two.

Sophomore Matthew Michel (Haverhill, Mass.) suffered the loss in his third start of the season, falling to 1-1 in 4.1 innings of work. Junior Harry MacKinlay (Norwell, Mass.), senior Andy Grygorcewicz (Northampton, Mass.), senior Shawn Morrow (Melrose, Mass.), and freshman Harry Peters (Hull, Mass.) came on in relief on the mound for Saint Anselm.

Senior Matt Collins (Beverly, Mass.) opened the contest with his first home run of the season. The leadoff homer carried over the left center field fence, giving the Hawks an early 1-0 lead.

The Rock responded in the bottom half of the inning as Jon Kozarian reached on a single before Connor Hamilton reached on an error. Alex Robenolt would single to score Kozarian which tied the score at one. Michel would get a fly out and a strikeout to get out of the early trouble with limited damage.

Saint Anselm would post three runs in the top of the third inning to take a 4-1 lead. Sophomore Zack Clough (Newbury, Mass.) singled to lead off the inning before graduate student Salvatore Pezzolla (East Greenbush, N.Y.) doubled, putting runners on second and third. Maurice would single to left field to score Clough and Pezzolla. Pierro later doubled off the left field wall which scored Maurice to cap the scoring in the inning.

Slippery Rock closed the gap to two when Robenolt launched a leadoff homerun in the bottom of the fourth, which made the score 4-2 through four innings of play.

The Rock would grab the lead in the bottom of the fifth inning as Abraham Mow recorded a one out walk to get the rally going. Kozarian doubled to score Mow before Hamilton doubled home Kozarinan which tied the score at four. Robenolt singled, scoring Hamilton which was followed by a single from Joel Spishock, pushing the score to 6-4. Koby Bubash doubled to clear the bases and Joe Ehland singled, leading to a triple from Mow. That closed the Slippery Rock scoring in the inning and made the score, 10-4.

Slippery Rock tacked on four more runs in the bottom of the sixth inning as three singles paved way for a bases loaded walk for Spishock. Ehland later walked scoring another run before Mow singled through the left side to score two runs which made the score 14-4.

The Rock added another run in the bottom of the seventh as Spishock singled to score Eddie Morris who recorded a two-out double.

The Hawks managed to get two runners on base with a Pierro single and an error allowed junior Will Panarello (Barrington, R.I.) to reach base but a fly out got the Rock out of the top of eighth inning.

Slippery Rock recorded three more runs in the bottom of the eighth which made the score 18-4.

Saint Anselm would benefit from a leadoff walk and five consecutive hit batters in the top of the ninth inning. Maurice, junior Mike Borrelli (Salisbury, Mass.), and sophomore Nolan Elmore (Brentwood, N.H.) recorded runs batted in during the stretch. Pierro reached on fielder's choice after a pitching change which scored Maurice and made the score 18-8. However, a fly out and a strikeout would close the contest, giving the hosts an 18-8 victory.