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CLARION, Pa. - The Mercyhurst University baseball team continued its torrid stretch in the closing weekends of the regular season with a doubleheader sweep at Clarion University on Monday afternoon. The Lakers won by the scores of 6-1 in game one and 5-1 in game two to take all four games from the Golden Eagles in the season series.

With the victories, Mercyhurst has now won nine of its last ten games to improve to 28-14 overall and 13-7 in the PSAC Western Division. Clarion dropped to 1-33 overall and 1-19 in conference play.

Mercyhurst got strong starting pitching again on Monday. After the Lakers tossed a pair of shutouts against the Golden Eagles on Saturday, Mercyhurst pitchers allowed just two unearned runs in the doubleheader sweep at Memorial Stadium.

Redshirt sophomore Jon Klein pitched four and one-third innings in game one, allowing an unearned run on seven hits. He did not issue a walk and struck out seven to improve to 5-2 on the year. Junior Adam Curyto and junior Jon Corbi combined to pitch two and two-thirds of perfect relief to close out the contest.

Game two featured redshirt senior Matthew Jimenez, who allowed an unearned run on five hits in his four innings. He did not walk a batter and struck out four to even his record at 5-5 on the season. Again, two relievers, freshman Ben Nolan and junior Tanner Delahoy, were perfect out of the pen over the final three innings to seal the deal.

Freshman Hank Morrison delivered Mercyhurst's first hit of game one with a leadoff double in the top of the third inning. He advanced to third on a bunt single from freshman Joel Yeagley and then scored on a sacrifice fly from sophomore Kolin McMillen to give the Lakers a 1-0 lead.

Clarion managed to touch up Klein in the bottom half of the frame with four singles, but could not muster a run. Klein struck out Joey Gierlak to start the inning then allowed a single to Drew Pirritano before picking him off at first base. Three consecutive singles loaded the bases for Nick Maskrey, who struck out swinging to close the inning.

It remained a 1-0 Laker lead until the top of the first when the Lakers scored twice to build a three-run cushion. Morrison, who went 3-for-3 with a walk in the opener, led off with a single and then advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Yeagley. Junior Anthony Tomasone followed with a double to right, but Morrison was held at third. After McMillen was retired, junior Joe Pantano singled to plate both Morrison and Tomasone.

Clarion scored its first run of the series in the bottom of the fifth on an RBI groundout by Pirritano.

Mercyhurst plated two more runs in the sixth on an RBI single by Yeagley and a sacrifice fly by Tomasone. The Lakers scored again in the seventh on an RBI single by sophomore Ryan Siegel.

Curyto pitched an inning and two-thirds of relief after Klein exited and struck out two batters. Corbi got two groundouts and a flyout in the seventh.

Mercyhurst had a dozen hits off of Clarion starter, Sam Skraba. Morrison led the way with three hits while Yeagley had two. Sophomore Jake Marinelli was the only Laker starter without a hit, but he did score a run in the sixth after getting hit by a pitch.

The Lakers gave Jimenez a 5-0 lead to work with after two innings in the second contest.

In the first inning, Mercyhurst took advantage of two Clarion errors to take a 2-0 advantage. McMillen led off with a walk and then advanced to third on a single by senior Zak Blair - the only Mercyhurst hit of the inning. Blair stole second during freshman Brendan Cox's at bat. Cox drove home McMillen with a sacrifice fly. Marinelli drove home the second run after reaching on a fielding error by Clarion third baseman Mike Lockhart.

The Lakers scored three times in the second on a pair of run-scoring bunt singles by Pantano and Blair and a sacrifice fly by Cox.

Clarion scored its only run in the bottom of the second after back-to-back passed balls and an RBI groundout from Joey Lopez.

After Jimenez departed, Nolan pitched the next two innings and struck out one batter. Delahoy pitched the seventh and struck out two in the inning to continue his dominance in the late innings.

Caleb McGary went the distance for Clarion and allowed four earned runs on eight hits.

Blair (three) and McMillen (two) combined for five of Mercyhurst's eight hits.

The Lakers will be off until Friday afternoon when they make the short trip to downtown Erie to take on crosstown-rival Gannon. The teams will then meet at Mercyhurst on Saturday afternoon on what will also serve as Senior Day for the Lakers. Both doubleheaders are set to begin at 1:00 p.m.