April 9, 2006

Stats

University Center, Mich. - Mercyhurst and Saginaw Valley State split a Sunday doubleheader. The Cardinals took the opener 5-1 to snap the Lakers' five-game winning streak while Mercyhurst rebounded to capture the nightcap 10-3. Mercyhurst won three out of four from SVSU and, coupled with a three out of four performance the prior week against Wayne State, has now won back-to-back four-game GLIAC series for the first time since 2000. Mercyhurst left Michigan with an overall mark of 18-11 and a conference slate of 7-5. The Cardinals finished the four-game set with 13-12 and 3-9 records respectively.

SVSU's Scott Schlaff threw a complete game four-hitter in the opener. Schlaff struck out four and walked one while improving to 5-1 on the year. Saginaw Valley rallied from an early 1-0 deficit with one in the fourth, three in the fifth, and another in the sixth. Brian Zacour drove in Scott Monzel in the second for the Lakers' lone run. Eric Drobotij (1-1) allowed four runs and six hits in 4.2 innings.

Mercyhurst jumped on the Cardinals for four runs, all unearned, in the first inning of the second game. Monzel drove in the first run with an infield out, Walter Wieczorek singled home a pair, and Zacour's base hit plated the fourth run.

The Cardinals scored a pair of unearned runs of their own in the second before the Lakers put the game away with two in the third and four more in the sixth. Sean Weyant's single scored two in the third while the Lakers bunched four hits in the sixth. With one out, Dan Bertolini singled and stole second. After an outfield fly, Joe Mariano singled for a run and David Lough was intentionally walked. The strategy backfired, however, as Joe Luli doubled to score Mariano and Monzel doubled to plate both Lough and Luli. The Cardinals scored an unearned marker in the last of the seventh to finish the scoring.

Freshman John Mang (3-0) pitched the first three innings for Mercyhurst while Brian Espersen worked the last four. Mariano, Luli, and Zacour paced an 11-hit attack with two hits apiece.

Mercyhurst will take to the highway again next Friday and Saturday for conference doubleheaders at Hillsdale.