ERIE, Pa. -- The Mercyhurst baseball team claimed a pair of victories, 7-3 and 11-1, over Pittsburgh-Johnstown in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division action on Friday at the Mercyhurst Baseball Field.
Individual game recaps are below.
Game One: Mercyhurst 7, Pittsburgh-Johnstown 3
The Lakers responded to a 3-0 deficit with seven unanswered runs to win the opener.
Cameron Balego delivered a key blow, hammering a go-ahead three home run that put host Mercyhurst ahead for good.
Daniel Elliott batted 2-for-4 with two RBI and one run.
Brendan Cox scored two runs,
Collin Fantaskey stole two bases and
Austin Alonge doubled in support of winning pitcher
Colin McKee.
McKee went the distance, allowing three runs on seven hits in seven innings of work. He tallied 11 strikeouts and two walks.
After McKee allowed two runs in the first and one in the third, the Lakers answered in their half of the third and trimmed the gap to 3-2.
Hank Morrison got Mercyhurst on the board with an RBI single and Elliott followed with an RBI groundout.
Balego connected for his three-run dinger in the fifth. Then, in the sixth,
Chris Gonzalez had a sacrifice fly and Elliott smacked an RBI single for insurance purposes.
Shane Supanick was the losing pitcher for UPJ, giving up five runs on four hits while finishing with five strikeouts, five walks and one hit batsman. Jake Stern led the Mountain Cats offense, going 3-for-4 with a home run, double and two RBI.
Game Two: Mercyhurst 11, Pittsburgh-Johnstown 1
The Lakers (26-9, 14-4) led by 11 runs through three innings and cruised the rest of the way.
Cam Knott was the winning pitcher, working six innings and allowing one run on five hits. He recorded 10 strikeouts and one walk.
Morrison batted 3-for-3 with a run and RBI while Alonge, Gonzalez and
Jimmy Latona smashed homers. Alonge finished 2-for-3 with three runs and two RHI. Latona scored two runs and Gonzalez collected two RBI.
Balego added a 2-for-4 game with a double and two RBI.
Sabatino DiNardo III added a double and two RBI.
Mercyhurst scored twice in the first inning and twice in the second before putting the game away with a seven-run third.
Morrison and Balego had RBI singles in the first. Latona and Alonge blasted solo homers in the second.
In the third, Balego had an RBI double, DiNardo ripped a two-run double, Cox drove a sacrifice fly, Alonge hit an RBI single and Gonzalez hammered a two-run homer.
UPJ's lone run occurred in the sixth on a solo bomb by Scott Thompson
Jake Hall worked one inning of scoreless relief for the Lakers, finishing with two strikeouts.
Ken Gault was the losing pitcher for the Cats (13-20, 6-10), allowing eight runs on eight hits in two innings of action.
The same two teams will meet again on Saturday -- this time in Johnstown.
