Erie, PA—After almost two years of not being able to play at home, the Mercyhurst Baseball team will be able to play at home and break in their new turf field for the first time. The Lakers will host a pair of games this weekend before heading to Akron to take on the Zips on Sunday. Mercyhurst will host Notre Dame College on Friday and Lake Erie on Saturday.
Laker Overview
The Lakers were able to start their 2021 season by winning three of their first four games on their first road trip to Salem, West Virginia. Mercyhurst was able to beat Wheeling by a score of 12-7 after dropping their opener to Wheeling by a score of 4-2. The next day the Lakers took the field to take on Salem in a doubleheader. In the first game the Lakers were able to beat the Tigers by a score of 4-3. In the second game of the day, the Lakers got hot and scored 18 runs. 18 runs is the most amount of runs the Lakers have scored since March 4th, 2018 when they scored 21 run and beat Penn State Greater Allegheny in a traditional nine inning game.
Leading the way for the Lakers has been Phillip Ferranti who has a team high .462 batting average while also one home run and four RBIs as a senior. Jack Elliott leads the team with three homers and eight RBIs as he homered in three of four games this past weekend. Tyler Zaluski is second on the team with a .429 batting average and one home run.
On the bump for the Lakers, Michael Krauza has appeared in two games while pitching 4.1 innings for the Lakers and has a 1.62 ERA, a .46 WHIP and seven strikeouts for the Lakers. Vincenzo Lucente has appeared in one game for the Lakers and went 4.1 innings while allowing just one unearned run while also striking out four for the Lakers.
Scouting Notre Dame
The Falcons have opened their season at 3-4, they have face fellow PSAC team, Gannon and split two games with winning the first 11-1 and falling 5-0 in the second game. They have also split a doubleheader with Lake Erie who will come to Erie this weekend. Ben Ross leads the team in hitting with a .423 batting average while Kyle Farrell has appeared in three games for the Falcons and has yet to allow an earned run in 6.1 innings. Len Barker is the head coach for the Falcons and is now in his 10th season as part of the Falcon coaching staff, he has a 114-89 record as the head coach.
Scouting Lake Erie
The Storm have opened their season with a 2-4 record. They last faced Notre Dame on Tuesday and lost 9-2 and won 4-3 in the doubleheader. Corbin Paxton has appeared and started in all six games for the Storm and has a .368 batting average. Ryan Lally has appeared in four of the six games for the Storm on the mound, he has a 4.15 ERA and has struck out four. Lake Erie is led by Gary Vaught who was promoted to full time this offseason after being named the interim head coach last season.
Scouting Akron
The Zips opened their season this week and will face Salem and Grand Valley State prior to face the Lakers on Sunday. Akron has opened their season with a 2-1 record with wins over Olivet and a loss to Wittenberg. Roy Thurman leads the Zips in hitting as he has a .364 batting average and an OPS. of .917. On the bump for the Zips no pitcher has made more than one appearance this season, Conor Steinbaugh has pitched five innings and has seven strikeouts for the Zips. Chris Sabo was named head coach of the Zips in 2018, last season the Zips went 1-12 in the shortened season.
Up Next
The Lakers will host D'Youville next weekend when weekend prior to opening PSAC play on March 26th against Gannon.
Spectator Policy for 2021 Spring Season
Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the associate public health guidelines, no spectators are allowed to begin the spring season. Mercyhurst will continue to remain in communication with local, state, and federal agencies over the course of the season to explore possible fan attendance at some point.
Mercyhurst is committed to providing in-depth coverage for fans to stay connected with the team via social media and many other initiatives. Fans are encouraged to follow on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and hurstathletics.com for the latest updates. Fans can also watch games online by clicking here. We look forward to having our proud supporters in attendance in the future.
