BUTLER, Pa. – The ninth-ranked Mercyhurst baseball team added two more Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) wins to its record after completing a sweep against Clarion on the road at Kelly Automotive Park Saturday afternoon.
Mercyhurst (27-7, 16-4 PSAC) battled for a 5-3 win in the first game of its doubleheader before erupting for 15 runs in a 15-2 game two victory. Clarion drops to 7-28 overall, 2-17 in the PSAC.
Recaps to both games are below:
Mercyhurst 5, Clarion 3
Mercyhurst whittled away at an early deficit in game one and scored two insurance runs in the seventh inning to win by two.
Starting pitcher
Tyler Garbee improved to 5-0 on the season while reliever
Adam Jeannette picked up a 4-out save, his fourth.
Daniel Elliott had another strong performance at the plate with his tenth home run of the season and another RBI hit. He also scored a run.
Mercyhurst trailed 2-1 after two innings but Elliott quickly tied the game with his round tripper over the right field fence in the top of the third.
The Lakers took a 3-2 lead in the next inning on
Jimmy Standohar's sacrifice fly to score
Zach Mitchell.
Mercyhurst's two runs in the seventh inning came on a little-league home run by
Alex O'Donnell. He singled to right field and scored
Collin Fantaskey, but an error by the right fielder allowed O'Donnell to make it all the way to home to give the Lakers a 5-2 advantage.
Garbee was effective once again despite the two-run second inning. In 5.2 innings, he only allowed four hits and did not walk a batter. He also fanned seven Clarion hitters.
Garbee was lifted for Jeannette out of the bullpen for the final out in the sixth inning. Jeannette allowed one run in the bottom of the seventh but managed to close the game with a two-run lead.
Mercyhurst 15, Clarion 3
An eight-run fifth inning in what was a 1-1 game through four frames sparked Mercyhurst's offense to 18 hits and 15 runs in its big win to conclude the weekend.
Five Lakers tallied a pair of hits each, led by
Drew Delsignore who had a double and bases-clearing triple in the top of the fifth. He ended up 2-for-5 with three runs scored.
The other Lakers with two hits were O'Donnell (2-for-3, 2 RBI),
Matthew Schneider (2-for-3, 1 RBI),
Parker Shannon (2-for-4, 2 runs scored), and
Jack Elliott (2-for-5, 1 RBI).
Matthew Minnick started on the mound and struck out six over 3.2 innings.
Nicholas McRandal continued the high-strikeout trend by punching out all four batters he faced.
Vincenzo Lucente finished the last two innings with three strikeouts, four walks, and one hit. Both runs scored against him were unearned.
Dan Elliott's two-run single with the bases loaded in the top of the fifth started the scoring rally for Mercyhurst. Elliott's team-high RBI total now stands at 45, second in the PSAC.
After the eight-run fifth inning, Mercyhurst scored two more in the sixth and four more in the seventh. The Lakers' 18 hits were the most since its 22-hit effort on March 4 against Penn State Greater Allegheny.
Mercyhurst celebrates its senior day next Saturday when it takes on Gannon in a key PSAC West matchup starting at 1 p.m. After Saturday's home games, the Lakers head downtown to finish the series Sunday at Gannon, also beginning at 1 p.m.
