ERIE, Pa. — The Mercyhurst Baseball team won 5-4 and 7-4 against Slippery Rock during Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference play on Friday.
Game One (W, 5-4):
Christian Young got the nod for game one and threw 14 strikeouts. Young was locked in from the time he first stepped on the mound, striking out the first nine out of 11 batters he faced. He finished the game allowing just two earned runs and four hits.
Through the first two innings there was no score. The first run did not come until the third inning, when
Domenic DeRenzo hit a solo shot to center field to give the Lakers a 1-0 lead.
In the fourth inning, Slippery Rock University responded back with a two-run homer. The Lakers then took the lead back with
Alex O'Donnell's two-run Homer in the fifth, giving Mercyhurst a 3-2 lead. In the sixth inning,
Hunter Snyder's RBI double extended the lead to make it 4-3 Lakers.
However, Slippery Rock University tied the game at four in the seventh inning.
Adam Jeannette came in relief for Young, after SRU's first run of the inning. SRU would then score another run. However, Jeannette was lights out from there, picking up three straight outs and earning the win. DeRenzo ended the game hitting a sacrifice fly to give the Lakers their first win of the day, 5-4.
Game Two (W, 7-4):
Minnick struck out 11 batters and did not allow a hit until the fourth inning, which was his only hit given up on the day. He pitched 5.2 innings and picked up the win.
The Lakers came out hot scoring seven unanswered runs through six innings. This includes RBIs from the bats of
Jack Elliott,
Matthew Schneider, and
Josh Surowiec.
In the bottom of the first inning, Surowiec hit a RBI single giving the Lakers an early 1-0 lead. In the third inning, MU would extend the lead to 3-0 from Schneider's RBI and Surowiec's RBI double.
The Lakers got some insurance runs in the fifth and sixth innings with Schneider's two-run homer and Elliott's RBI double to give the Lakers a 7-0 lead.
Slippery Rock hit a grand slam in the top of the seventh but fell short to the Lakers 7-4.
NEXT UP:The Lakers will end their four-game series tomorrow with another doubleheader at Slippery Rock starting at 1:00 PM.
