No. 21 Mercyhurst 11, California (Pa.) 10

JOHNSTOWN, Pa. – Craig Denman's RBI-single in the top of the 10th capped off a furious come-from-behind rally that included a five-run eighth inning to give 21st-ranked Mercyhurst College an 11-10 win over California (Pa.).

The Lakers (37-10) remain unbeaten in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Championship tournament and advance to play at 6:30 p.m. on Friday. Mercyhurst's opponent could be California (30-17) again as the Vulcans will square off against Millersville in the loser's bracket at 12:30 p.m. tomorrow, with the winner of that contest advancing to play the Lakers.

Mercyhurst is the Western Division's top seed and the No. 2-ranked team in the NCAA Atlantic Region while Millersville is the East's No. 1 seed, ranked No. 1 in the NCAA Atlantic Region and No. 8 nationally. Meanwhile, Cal sits in sixth of the latest regional rankings.

In what only could be described as “one of those games where you had to be there,” Mercyhurst battled through adversity in the early innings before swinging momentum its way by scoring five runs in the eighth inning. That frame gave the Lakers their first lead of the game since scoring the first run of the game in the second inning and changed the entire dynamic of the contest that lasted3 hours, 43 minutes.

Fittingly, the man who sealed the game for the Lakers was also the same one who started the rally.

Denman reached to start the inning after a throwing error by the third baseman. From there, Shane Latshaw doubled down the left field line to put runners at the corners before Justin Urschel loaded the bases after being hit by a pitch. Following a strikeout, Zak Blair put the first dent in the Vulcans lead with his 2-RBI single up the middle. Kevin McCall then drew a walk to keep the rally alive.

That's when the game started to heat up.

With Ethan Santora at the plate and the bases loaded, the Vulcans' pitcher uncorked a wild pitch to plate Urschel. The Vulcans' pitcher then unloaded another wild pitch allowing Blair to scamper home as Cal's catcher overthrew the pitcher covering home plate to allow McCall to score on the continuation of the play.

All told, the Lakers took a 10-9 lead after scoring five runs on two hits while taking advantage of two Cal errors.

After the Vulcans escaped the Lakers' at-bat in the ninth, Cal put together a rally of its own to knot the game and send it into extras after a bang-bang play at the plate. A leadoff single by and a sacrifice put Sean Welsh on second base with one out, and Adam Links followed with another single off Laker reliever Samuel O'Neill to put runners at the corners.

The next play sent the Cal dugout into cheers as Kyle Petty flew out to Latshaw in right field and Welsh steamrolled towards home plate. Latshaw's throw was an on-target laser to catcher Anthony Tomasone, who appeared to swipe Welsh as he went into his slide. However, the umpire called him safe and the already lengthy game went into the 10th.

There, Kevin McCall's one-out single gave the Lakers runners on first and second before Bill Gerstenslager ripped a liner that the shortstop couldn't handle . After a strikeout, Denman then drilled the 2-1 offering to center field to score Blair. McCall also tried to score on the play but a strong throw from the centerfielder cut him down at the plate for the second bang-bang out at home in as many innings.

In the 10th, Laker reliever Samuel O'Neill completed his second inning of work to move to 3-2 on the year. O'Neill came on to replace Brad Duffy, who went five innings in place of starter Nick Gillung. Duffy allowed three runs, one earned, on four hits while striking out three. O'Neill went 2 1/3 innings, allowing one earned run on three hits. Gillung labored through 2 2/3 innings, allowing six earned runs on eight hits.

Meanwhile, California used five pitchers in the contest that saw 12 combined walks (5 MC, 7 Cal). Welsh picked up the loss to go to 1-2.