JAMESTOWN, N.Y. – The Mercyhurst baseball team climbed out of a 4-0 first inning deficit with eleven straight runs to defeat Millersville 11-4 in the second round of the NCAA Atlantic Regional at Russell Diethrick Park Friday afternoon.
Mercyhurst (38-6) advances to the next round of the tournament where they will take on the tournament's other undefeated team West Chester tomorrow, May 20, at 7 p.m.
Millersville (34-18) came out swinging in the first inning and scored four runs on four hits against Lakers' starting pitcher
Chris Vallimont. Meanwhile, Millersville starter Eli Nabholz cruised through two scoreless innings before the Lakers finally garnered a response.
Chris Gonzalez launched a two-out, two-run homer to cut the Marauder lead in half.
Mercyhurst scored two more runs in the fifth inning to tie the game 4-4. Gonzalez scored on a Millersville fielding error followed by a sacrifice fly by
Daniel Elliott. Mercyhurst continued its scoring run in the sixth to take the lead by plating two more runs.
Jimmy Latona ripped an RBI-double in the frame to score
Collin Fantaskey.
Drew Delsignore drove in the Lakers' sixth run on another sacrifice fly to score Latona.
After allowing four runs in the first inning, Vallimont settled in nicely and rattled off 5 2/3 scoreless innings. His final stat line read 6 2/3 innings pitched, four earned runs, eight hits, six strikeouts, and four walks. He improved his record to 8-1 on the season and hasn't lost a game since February 19.
Matthew Keating took over in the seventh for Vallimont and ended up earning the extended save for the Lakers, his third of the season. He threw 2 1/3 scoreless without allowing a hit and walked just one.
Mercyhurst bats added five more runs in their final two innings at the plate.
Sabatino DiNardo III launched his sixth home run of the season to score three in the eighth inning.
Every Lakers' starter in the lineup had at least one hit, with
Dan Popio leading the charge with three base hits in five at-bats. Latona and Gonzalez each added two-hit games.
The Lakers are now 19-0 this season when scoring at least ten runs.
Millersville moves to the losers' bracket to play Winston-Salem State tomorrow morning at 11 a.m. in an elimination game. West Chester defeated Shepherd 11-4 Friday evening to move on to play Mercyhurst.
