ERIE, Pa. -- The Mercyhurst baseball team completed four-game Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division series sweep over Slippery Rock, taking decisions of 10-0 and 11-4 on Saturday at the Mercyhurst Baseball Field.
Individual game recaps are below:
Game One: Mercyhurst 10, Slippery Rock 0Starting pitcher
Joe Gnacinski and two relievers -- Matthew Jakolka and
Jim Solano -- combined on a five-hit shutout while the Lakers' offense collected 14 hits.
Gnacinski gave up four hits in five innings of work, finishing with six strikeouts, one walk and one hit batsman. Jakolka and Solano worked one scoreless inning apiece.
Jimmy Latona went 3-for-3 with two runs and one stolen base while five of his teammmates had extra-base hits.
Cameron Balego and
Steve McCaw hit home runs while
Austin Alonge,
Chris Gonzalez and
Hank Morrison smacked doubles.
Alonge finished 2-for-4 with two runs and two RBI. Cox added a 2-for-4 game with one run, one RBI and one stolen base.
Also for the Lakers,
Collin Fantaskey was 2-for-3 with a run and Gonzalez scored twice. Morrison and
Daniel Elliott collected two RBI each.
The Lakers pieced together back-to-back four-run innings in the third and fourth frames.
In the third, Alonge got the scoring started with an RBI single. Morrison added an RBI groundout and Elliott had a two-run single.
During the fourth, Cox ripped an RBI single before Alonge, Gonzalez and Morrison had RBI doubles.
Later, Balego homered in the fifth and McCaw hit a pinch-hit dinger in the sixth.
Matt Gordon was the losing pitcher for Slippery Rock. James Divosevic (double) batted 2-for-3.
Game Two: Mercyhurst 11, Slippery Rock 4The Lakers jumped ahead with five runs in the first inning and never trailed as they finished with 13 hits.
Once again, Latona had a three-hit performance, going 3-for-3 with two runs, two stolen bases and one RBI. Balego and Elliott connected for home runs.
Balego went 2-for-4 with one run and three RBI while Elliott was 2-for-3 with three runs and two RBI. Cox was 2-for-3 with one run and one RBI. Fantaskey contributed two RBI.
Gonzalez and Elliott had RBI singles in the Mercyhurst first before Balego crunched a three-run bomb.
In the fourth, the Lakers scored on a wild pitch by SRU, before pushing across four runs in the fifth -- RBI singles by Latona and Cox and a two-run single by Fantaskey. Elliott hit his solo homer in the sixth.
Matthew Minnick was the winning pitcher for Mercyhurst (16-8, 5-3), giving up two runs on four hits while totaling five strikeouts and one walk. Reliever
Jake Hall gave up two runs on two hits, but struck out seven batters in three innings to earn a save.
Shawn Holman was the losing pitcher for The Rock (6-21, 1-7). Alex Bell, Christian Porterfield and Tyler Walters hit home runs for the visitors.
The Lakers will return to action on Apr. 1-2 with a four-game PSAC West series against Clarion.
