BUTLER, Pa. – Nothing like a little home cooking to get back on track.

Redshirt sophomore Colin McKee, a Butler native, pitched a complete game six-hitter and struck out a career-high tying 12 batters, to lift the Mercyhurst University baseball team to an 11-2 victory over Slippery Rock in day three of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Tournament. The Lakers improved to 34-7 overall and avoided elimination for the second consecutive game after losing the opener. The Rock dropped to 30-18 and will have to wait to see if it gets a bid into the NCAA playoffs.

McKee had struggled over his last two starts, going 0-2 and allowing seven earned runs, nine hits, and five walks over the span of 9.2 innings. But, the righthander was dominant on Friday morning and was never in real danger of giving up a big inning.

Meanwhile, the Laker offense continues to, arguably, be the story of the Laker postseason. Mercyhurst had 19 hits in the tournament-opening loss to East Stroudsburg, 21 hits in the win over West Chester on Thursday, and racked up 19 more hits on Friday morning against Slippery Rock pitching.

After McKee struck out the side in order in the top of the first inning, the Mercyhurst offense got off to a blazing start again, touching up Slippery Rock starter Preston Falascino for four runs in the bottom half of the first.

Senior Angel Martinez led off the inning with an infield single and then advanced to third on a double down the left field line by redshirt senior Ryan Siegel. Junior Brendan Cox followed with a walk to load the bases with nobody out. Senior Giancarlo Saia plated the first two runs of the inning with a single through the right side of the infield to give the Lakers a 2-0 lead. Junior Hank Morrison followed with an RBI single to score Cox for a 3-0 lead. Saia scored on a double play ball off the bat of sophomore Cameron Balego.

Falascino settled down over the next two innings while Slippery Rock's offense solved McKee for a run on two hits in the top of the third. Matt Mandes singled up the middle for the first hit of the day for The Rock. He would score on an RBI double from Ty Zimmerman.

But, in the bottom of the fourth, the Lakers got things going, again, offensively and extended their lead to 8-1 through four innings.

This time, it was a pair of freshmen that started the rally. Daniel Elliott, hitting eighth in the order, laced a double down the right field line with one out. Collin Fantaskey, the ninth-place batter, looped a single to center to put runners at first and third with one out. Martinez followed with a chopper up the middle that should have been an inning-ending double play. But, the throw to first from Mandes sailed over the first baseman's head to allow Elliott to score.

Then, the roof caved in.

Siegel doubled to drive home Martinez, Cox singled to drive home Siegel, Saia singled, and Morrison singled to bring home Cox. When the dust settled, Mercyhurst led 8-1.

Falascino's day ended after Saia's single and he finished the morning by allowing eight runs (seven earned) on ten hits in 3.2 innings. He walked two and struck out one.

Slippery Rock got a run back in the top of the fifth when Kyle Vozar launched a solo home run over the right field fence off of McKee to cut the Laker lead to 8-2. But, the Lakers got the run back in the home half of the fifth thanks to a couple of throwing miscues by The Rock defense.

Senior catcher Jake Marinelli led off the inning with a single but was forced out on a fielder's choice off the bat of Elliott. However, on the return throw to first, it got away from the Slippery Rock first baseman, allowing Elliott to take second. Fantaskey followed with an infield hit but after a brilliant barehanded play from reliever Jon Zimmerman, his throw to try to nab Fantaskey sailed wide, allowing Elliott to cross the plate.

The Lakers ballooned the lead to 11-2 in the bottom of the sixth when Morrison launched a two-run homer to right field, also scoring Cox who led off the inning with a single. It was Morrison's second round-tripper of the tournament and his team-leading eighth of the season.

Zimmerman went 2.1 and allowed three runs (two earned) on six hits. James Divosevic closed it out for The Rock, pitching two scoreless innings of relief.

McKee did the rest, going the distance for his team-leading fourth complete game of the season, and, maybe more importantly, saving bullpen arms for the team's upcoming game against Millersville at 3:30 p.m.

The righthander improved to 6-2 on the season after allowing two runs on six hits. He did not walk a batter and struck out a career-high tying 12 batters in the victory. He threw 119 pitches in the effort with 85 of those finding the strike zone.

The top three hitters in the Slippery Rock lineup – Jake Nogalo, Tyler Walters, and Adam Urbania – went a combined 0-for-12 against McKee with eight strikeouts.

Cox went 4-for-4 with three runs scored and a run batted in while Morrison finished the day 3-for-4 with a run scored and a team-high four runs batted in in the victory. Siegel also had three hits in the win. In fact, all nine Laker starters had at least one hit on Friday morning.Mercyhurst will look to advance to Championship Saturday when it takes home unbeaten Millersville at 3:30 p.m. The Marauders have beaten California (Pa.) and Seton Hill in the tournament thus far.