Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

ERIE, Pa. - Junior Dan Altavilla was up to his old tricks on Friday afternoon as he lifted the Mercyhurst University baseball team to a split with 13th-ranked Seton Hill at the Mercyhurst Baseball Field. The righthander struck out 11 in his fourth shutout of the season, leading the Lakers to a 1-0 victory in game one. The Griffins returned the favor in game two, posting a 3-1 victory over the hosts to salvage the split. Mercyhurst moved to 21-11 overall and 13-7 in the PSAC Western Division. The first-place Griffins moved to 30-13 overall and 17-5 in the conference.

Altavilla was in complete control in game one, needing just 90 pitches to blank the Griffins. The Greenock, Pennsylvania native allowed just four hits and one walk while striking out 11 - his fifth consecutive start with at least ten strikeouts and the sixth time in eight starts he has accomplished the feat. He ran into trouble in the fifth when he allowed a walk to Jesse Cooper and a single to Matt Malacane with one out. Redshirt junior centerfielder Ryan Siegel tried to gun down Cooper at third on the hit, which allowed Malacane to take second. Seton Hill's Taylor Schmidt tried to lay down a squeeze bunt, but Altavilla made a great play off the mound and flipped the ball to junior catcher Jake Marinelli to nail Cooper at the plate. He then struck out Brendan Costantino to get out of the inning.

Mercyhurst responded in the bottom half of the frame without the benefit of a base hit. The Lakers could generate little offense against Seton Hill starter Mike Bittel, so Mercyhurst made Bittel beat himself in the bottom of the fifth. Marinelli walked to start the inning and advanced to second on a passed ball. Sophomore Hank Morrison and senior Anthony Tomasone drew back-to-back walks to load the bases with one out. Junior Angel Martinez drove home the only run of the game with a sacrifice fly to center, scoring Marinelli.

Altavilla did the rest, pitching perfect sixth and seventh innings with five strikeouts during the stretch. In fact, he struck out the side in the seventh, still pumping mid 90s on his fastball. The junior improved to 6-0 on the season, lowering his earned run average to 1.51. In 53.2 innings, he has allowed just 34 hits and has struck out 81 batters. Altavilla has struck out 41.3% of the batters he has faced this season (81-of-196).

Offensively, Mercyhurst only had two hits in the opener, both by sophomore Brendan Cox. Bittel went five and two-thirds allowing a run on two hits. He walked three and struck out six to drop to 6-2 on the season. Alex Haines came on in relief in the sixth and struck out junior Giancarlo Saia on four pitches.

After combining for six hits in the opener, the bats warmed up a little in the second game.

Seton Hill, after being shutout for the first nine innings of the afternoon, finally broke through with a pair of runs in the top of the third against Klein. Costantino drove home the first run with an RBI single that deflected off of a diving Martinez at second base and trickled away just enough for Zach Heide to score from second. Costantino later scored on a wild pitch to give the Griffins a 2-0 lead.

The Lakers responded with a run in the bottom of the fourth against Fuller. Cox led off the inning with a walk and then advanced to third on a single down the right field line by sophomore Dan Popio. Marinelli, however, grounded into a 6-4-3 double play, ending the threat of a bigger rally, but allowing Cox to score from third.

Seton Hill scored an insurance run in the top of the seventh courtesy of a successful suicide squeeze bunt from Heide. The damage could have been worse as Klein was pulled with the bases loaded and one out. But, sophomore Jake Hall came on in relief and, on the second pitch he threw, got a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning.

Mercyhurst threatened in the seventh, getting a leadoff single from Saia and an 11-pitch walk from sophomore Dan Karstedt, putting runners at first and second with nobody out. With sophomore Stephen Scaccia at the plate, a bunt attempt was missed and Saia stranded too far off of second base to get gunned down by Josh Forbes, turning the whole inning around. Scaccia struck out on a 3-2 pitch and Martinez popped out to second to end the contest.

Klein dropped to 3-5 on the season after allowing three runs on nine hits in six and one-third innings. He walked one and struck out six. Fuller went the distance for the Griffins, allowing one run on six hits to improve to 4-1. He walked two and struck out seven.

Popio went 3-for-3 in game two to lift his batting average to .402 on the season.

The teams will convene in Greensburg, Pennsylvania on Saturday, April 19 for a season series-ending twinbill. First pitch of game one is slated for 1:00 p.m.