Game One Box Score
Game Two Box Score

JOHNSTOWN, Pa. - Five Mercyhurst hurlers combined to strike out 22 Pitt-Johnstown batters, while allowing just nine hits, as the Lakers cruised to a doubleheader sweep on Sunday afternoon against the Mountain Cats by the scores of 6-2 and 8-1. With the victories, Mercyhurst won three-out-of-four against Pitt-Johnstown and improved to 15-5 on the season. The Mountain Cats dropped to 9-10 on the year.

Mercyhurst didn't take long to jump out in front of Pitt-Johnstown in game one, sending 10 batters to the plate in the top of the first inning in scoring five runs on four hits. Ethan Santora drove home Shane Latshaw for the game's first run. Then, the Lakers got a two-run single from Matt Adamczyk before Andrew Fitzpatrick drove home the final two runs of the inning with a double.

The Laker bats would go guiet after the first inning, but senior Brad Duffy held the Mountain Cats in check for much of the afternoon.

Pitt-Johnstown scored its only run and had three hits in the bottom of the first inning to cut the Mercyhurst lead to 5-1. Drew Westover plated the run with an RBI single up the middle.

That would be all that Duffy would allow in his five innings of work, finishing the day allowing just the one run and just the three hits while striking out a season-high 10 batters. Duffy improved to 2-0 on the season.

Both team would not score again until the seventh inning. Santora blasted his third home run of the season with one out in the top half of the final inning, giving Mercyhurst a 6-1 advantage. Meanwhile, the Mountain Cats would score a single run off of reliever Dan Altavilla in the bottom half on a sacrifice fly by Westover.

Altavilla allowed one run on two hits in two innings of relief. Santora, Adamczyk, and Fitzpatrick combined for all six of Mercyhurst's RBIs and four of the team's five hits.

In game two, senior Zach Leitten took the hill for the Lakers and continued the fine pitching on the afternoon. The righthander pitched five-and-a-third innings, allowing just one run on four hits while striking out seven. He improved to 2-0 on the campaign.

Leitten got some offense from the Laker bats in the top half of the second inning, when Mercyhurst took a 3-0 advantage. Five consecutive Lakers reached base in the second as Adamczyk drove in the first run with an RBI double. Fitzpatrick followed with an RBI single, driving home Adamczyk. The Lakers' third run of the inning came on a squeeze bunt by Kolin McMillen.

Pitt-Johnstown would get its run in the bottom of the fourth inning, cutting the Laker lead to 3-1 on an RBI double by Jeff Campbell.

The Lakers would add two runs in the sixth inning and three more in the seventh to put the game out of reach. In the sixth, Mercyhurst got an RBI single from Colin Loughner and a sacrifice fly from Latshaw, and then got an RBI single from Kyle Hagerich, a bases loaded walk to Latshaw, and an RBI grounder from Zak Blair in the seventh.

Jeremy Cressley and Samuel O'Neill combined to pitch the final inning and two-thirds in relief of Leitten, retiring all five batters they faced. 

Mercyhurst had 11 hits in game two, with Adamczyk, Loughner, Ryan Siegel, and Jake Janeczko each recording two hits in the contest.

The Lakers (15-5) will play their first home games of the season on Friday, March 23 with a doubleheader against California (Pa.). The games will also be the first conference games of the season for the defending PSAC Champions. First pitch is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.