ERIE, Pa. – The eighth-ranked Mercyhurst baseball team lost its first Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) West Division series of the season after two losses to Ganno Sunday at McConnell Family Stadium.
Mercyhurst mounted a big comeback but lost on a walk-off in game one before being shutout in the second game.
Recaps to both games are listed below:
Gannon 9, Mercyhurst 7
The Lakers erased an early five-run deficit and took a two-run lead into the bottom of the sixth inning, but the Golden Knights rallied late and won on a two-run walk-off home run by Nate Cardy.
Jimmy Standohar led the Lakers offensively with three hits in three at-bats along with a walk, two runs, and one run batted in.
Jack Elliott launched his second home run of the season at a big moment in the third inning to bring in three runs.
Gannon came out the gates strong by stringing together a couple of RBI hits and taking advantage of a couple of Lakers' errors to take a 5-0 lead after the first inning.
After Gannon's big first inning, Merychurst starter
Tyler Garbee settled in and turned in a solid outing of five innings pitched with seven strikeouts. He only allowed two hits after the first frame and was charged with just three earned runs.
Mercyhurst clawed away at the deficit in the third inning, starting with a two RBI-double by
Drew Delsignore with nobody out to plate
Collin Fantaskey and Standohar.
Jack Elliott followed up three batters later with his game-tying, three-run homer to right field with one out to tie the game at five.
The Lakers took the lead in the sixth on Standohar's double and added another run on
Alex O'Donnell's sacrifice fly to take its first lead late.
From then on out, Gannon retook control of the game with a clutch two-run single by Matt Oruch in the sixth and Cardy's walk-off home run to center off Lakers' reliever Nicolas McRandal. The loss was McRandal's first of the season (2-1).
Gannon 4, Mercyhurst 0
Mercyhurst's bats went quiet in game two as Gannon's David Crick's took a no-hitter into the final inning in Gannon's four-run shutout win in game two.
The Lakers broke the no-hitter to lead off the seventh inning with back-to-back singles and actually loaded the bases with only one out, but Crick's struck out the next two batters to bring his strikeout total to ten for the game.
Laker's starter
Matthew Minnick looked strong through three-innings but ran into trouble in the fourth when he allowed two RBI hits that gave Gannon the 2-0 lead.
Minnick (0-1) faced one batter in the fifth before he was replaced by
Connor Ryan. Gannon's Dakota Callaway came up with a two-run homer in the inning to stretch the lead to four, more than enough runs for Crick.
The series loss is Mercyhurst's first PSAC series loss since mid-March in 2016 when the Lakers dropped three games to Seton Hill. The Lakers went 16-0-1 in its 17 series since then.
Mercyhurst will conclude its 2018 regular-season schedule with its final PSAC series against Pitt-Johnstown next weekend. Friday, May 4, will be Mercyhurst's senior day and the final two home games of the season at MU Baseball Field.
The Lakers complete their series Saturday, May 5, at Pitt Johnstown's Point Stadium, the site for this year's PSAC Tournament. Both doubleheaders will begin at 1 p.m.
