Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. - The Mercyhurst University baseball team finished the regular season on Sunday afternoon with its second consecutive doubleheader sweep of Slippery Rock. The Lakers won by the scores of 11-2 and 8-0 on Sunday at Jack Critchfield Park to clinch the #2 seed in the PSAC West entering tournament play this week. Mercyhurst improved to 28-12 overall and completed the year with a 20-8 record in the conference - two games behind PSAC West-Champion, Seton Hill. The Rock dropped to 25-19 overall and will enter the tournament as the #4 seed in the West after concluding the year with a 14-14 mark in league play.

Mercyhurst will play the opening game of the PSAC Tournament at Kelly Automotive Park in Butler, Pennsylvania on Wednesday, April 30 against the #3 seed from the eastern division, West Chester. First pitch is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. The Golden Rams are 25-17 overall and finished the year with a 16-12 mark in the PSAC East. Mercyhurst defeated West Chester back on February 22 by an 11-3 final.

In game one on Sunday, the Lakers jumped out to a 4-0 lead after the opening frame against Slippery Rock starter Anton Constantino. Mercyhurst got run-scoring singles from sophomore Brendan Cox and senior Joe Pantano and also took advantage of back-to-back passed balls, allowing Cox and redshirt junior Ryan Siegel to score.

Senior Tanner Delahoy got the call on the mound and allowed a two-run homerun to Slippery Rock's Preston Falascino in the bottom of the second, cutting the Mercyhurst lead to 4-2. That, however, would be all that Delahoy allowed, as he went six innings to improve to 6-1 on the season. The righthander gave up two runs on six hits. He walked two and struck out a season-high ten batters in the victory. Sophomore Ben Nolan pitched the final inning, allowing one hit and one walk while striking out a batter.

Mercyhurst got the two runs back in the top of the fourth on RBI singles from sophomore Hank Morrison and junior Angel Martinez. Morrison struck again in the fifth, this time with a three-run bomb to left, as part of a four-run inning as the Lakers built up a 10-2 advantage. Sophomore Dan Popio preceded Morrison's home run with an RBI double.

The visitors scored one more in the sixth when Popio legged out an infield single to drive home senior Anthony Tomasone.

Popio went 3-for-4 with two runs scored and two runs batted in. Morrison went 2-for-4 with a pair of runs scored and four RBI. Tomasone and Pantano also had a pair of hits in the victory.

Sophomore Cam Knott took center stage in game two and earned his first collegiate complete-game shutout. The righthander scattered seven hits but did not walk a batter in the 8-0 blanking of The Rock. Knott struck out five to improve to 3-2 on the year.

Mercyhurst provided Knott all the offense he would need when it scored six times in the top of the first inning against The Rock's Jon Anderson to take a 6-0 lead. The Lakers did all of their damage on just two hits, taking advantage of three Slippery Rock errors. The big blow of the rally was a three-run triple by Martinez, driving home Pantano, Morrison, and junior Jake Marinelli. All six of the Mercyhurst runs in the first inning were unearned.

The Lakers scored their other two runs in the top of the fourth inning on an RBI triple by Siegel and a run-scoring single by Cox.

Mercyhurst had just six hits in game two, getting two apiece from Tomasone and Cox. Martinez and Siegel had the other hits in the win.