ERIE, Pa. -- The 27th-ranked Mercyhurst baseball team claimed a pair of Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference West Division wins, 5-0 and 14-2, over Indiana (Pa.) on Saturday at the Mercyhurst Baseball Field. With the first win, the Lakers clinched the PSAC West championship; they have tied for the crown or won the title outright in six of the last eight years.

Individual game recaps are below.

Game One: Mercyhurst 5, Indiana 0
Winning pitcher Joe Gnacinski worked six shutout innings while Hank Morrison led the Laker offense, going 2-for-3 with a home run, stolen base and three RBI.

Daniel Elliott added a double for the Laker offense, which recorded six stolen bases. Brendan Cox and Jimmy Latona had two stolen bases each. Chris Gonzalez also stole a base.

Gnacinski allowed five hits while recording four strikeouts, two walks and one hit batsman. Jamie Lauria tossed one inning of scoreless relief, striking out two hitters.

Morrison gave Mercyhurst the lead in the first inning with an RBI single. He added a two-run homer during the Lakers' four-run fifth.

Michael Klingensmith was the losing pitcher for IUP. He gave up eight hits in six innings of work. Of the five runs scored by mercyhurst, only three were earned. Klingensmith totaled seven strikeouts, one walk and one hit batter.


Game Two: Mercyhurst 14, Indiana 2
Mercyhurst hit back-to-back-to-back home runs -- hit by Austin Alonge, Gonzalez and Morrison -- in the first inning and cruised from there. Later, an eight-run third inning pushed the Lakers' advantage to 11-0.

Alonge finished 3-for-4 with two doubles, the homer, three runs and three RBI. Gonzalez was 2-for-2 with the dinger, a double, two runs and three RBI. Morrison scored two runs. Elliott also homered.

Cameron Balego added a double, stolen base and two runs to the Mercyhurst effort. Sabatino DiNardo III had a double and two RBI.

Matthew Minnick was the winning pitcher, giving up one run on five hits. He had six strikeouts and did not walk a batter, although, he had one hit-by-pitch. Mike Schnurr threw one inning of scoreless relief.

Alonge, a left-handed hitter, went the opposite way with his homer to left field. Gonzalez and Morrison followed with bombs in roughly the same area as the hosts built a 3-0 advantage.

In the third, Mercyhurst had five hits -- all of which were doubles. Alonge got the inning started with a double -- his first of two in the frame. Later in the innig, Balego had an RBI double before DiNardo, Alonge and Gonzalez smacked two-run doubles.

Elliott hit his home run -- a solo job -- in the fourth.

Rick Jones led the IUP offense with a 3-for-3 game. He homered and scored twice.

Jeff Allen was the losing pitcher. He gave up 11 runs on eight hits while totaling three strikeouts, three walks and two hit batsmen.