ERIE, Pa. -- The No. 1-ranked Mercyhurst baseball team swept crosstown rival Gannon, 6-5 and 5-0, in a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference West Division doubleheader on Friday at the Mercyhurst Baseball Field.

Individual recaps are below.


Game One: Mercyhurst 6, Gannon 5
Dan Popio blasted a one-out double in the seventh inning to plate pinch-runner Collin Fantaskey as the Lakers won the opener in walkoff fashion.

Popio finished with three RBI while both Matthew Schneider and Jared Kapturasky had 2-for-3 games. Schneider scored two runs, doubled and drove in one run while Kapturasky totaled a double and two RBI.

Jamie Lauria was the winning pitcher with 2 2/3 innings of solid relief work. He recorded six strikeouts, including five straight to close out the game.

Chris Vallimont started on the hill, going 4 1/3 frames. He gave up two hits and was charged with three earned runs while compiling nine strikeouts and six walks.

Kyle Cox led the visiting Golden Knights, going 2-for-4 with three RBI. Santiago Mendez was the starting pitcher, giving up five runs on six hits in 4 1/3 innings. Nico DiPaulo suffered the loss.

Gannon took the first lead with a two-run first inning -- highlighted by an RBI double by Cox -- before the Lakers came back with two runs in the second.

During that Mercyhurst second, Popio was hit by pitch with the bases loaded. Kapturasky added an RBI single.

A two-run single by Cox helped GU to the lead once again -- this time in the fifth -- as the Knights went up 4-2.

Mercyhurst quickly responded with three runs in its half of the fifth. Schneider had an RBI single, Popio smacked a game-tying sacrifice fly and Kapturasky connected for a go-ahead RBI single.

Lauria entered the game in the fifth inning, inheriting a bases-loaded jam. He escaped with a strikeout and groundout.

During the sixth, the Knights evened the score at 5-5, taking advantage of a Mercyhurst passed ball, but Lauria buckled down the rest of the way after that with five straight strikeouts.

After Lauria struck out the side in the Gannon seventh, Sabatino DiNardo III hit a one-out single in the Mercyhurst seventh.

DiNardo was lifted for Fantaskey, who scored from first when Popio drove his game-ending two-bagger off the left-field fence.


Game Two: Mercyhurst 5, Gannon 0
Russell Lamovec threw a three-hit shutout while Drew Delsignore crushed two home runs as the Lakers took the nightcap.

Delsignore finished with three RBI while Jimmy Latona went 2-for-3 with a double and run. Cameron Balego added a double and two RBI.

On the mound, Lamovec finished with five strikeouts, three walks and one hit batsman.

Mercyhurst broke a scoreless tie with four runs in the third inning. Latona set the table with a leadoff double and then Balego followed with a two-run double and Delsignore blasted a two-run dinger over the fence in left.

Later, in the fifth, Delsignore cleared the left-field fence for a second time, bringing his season total to six home runs.

Gannon's Aaron Jackson was the losing pitcher. He was charged with four runs on seven hits in four innings of work.


The two Erie rivals will meet again on Saturday at 1 p.m. This time, they will meet on Gannon's campus.