Johnstown, PA—The Mercyhurst as able to split their second straight doubleheader with UPJ as they fell in the first game 6-4 and bounced back in the second game with a 13-3 win.
Game One (L, 6-4)
The Laker bats were able to stay hot after a 3-and-a-half-hour drive to Johnstown. Mercyhurst jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning after Troy Banks came around to score on a wild pitch after a leadoff single.
Josh Surowiec was able to give the Lakers a 2-0 lead after he doubled down the left field line which allowed Jack Elliott to score.
After Luke Jackson drew a walk and Matthew Gibson was hit by a pitch, Luke Baranchak drew a bases loaded walk to extend the first inning lead to 3-0.
The Mountain Cats were able to push one across in the top of the first. They followed that up with a four run second inning to take the 5-3 lead.
Mercyhurst was able to get one back in the fourth inning as Casimer Sobaszek was able to score on a wild pitch after he opened the inning with an infield single.
Mercyhurst couldn't get much going after that as UPJ added an insurance run in the sixth inning.
Vincenzo Lucente, Justin Studd, Hunter Treece, and Michael Krauza allowed a combined four hits on the bump in game one and struck out five in the loss. Treece went 4.1 innings out of the bullpen and allowed two hits and three runs.
Game Two (W, 13-3)
Brett Whiteman got the ball for game two and was able to go 4.1 innings while allowing three hits and three runs, the Laker bats had his back and got him his second win of the season.
The Lakers were able to take the lead in the third inning as Sobaszek scored after Elliott reached on an error.
In the fourth inning, with runners on first and second Baranchak was able to put the ball over the center field fence to extend the lead to 4-0.
The Lakers learned from the earlier game and made sure the Mountain Cats couldn't make a comeback, Mercyhurst made the score 9-0 after five.
The fifth started with Banks getting a free 90 feet after being hit on a 1-2 pitch, after two groundouts Banks was on third with two outs.
Surowiec was able to single to keep the inning alive which drove in Banks. Surowiec then swiped second for his first stolen base of the season. Jackson then drove Surowiec in with a single to left.
After a Cole Hollins drew a four-pitch walk, Gibson looked to blow the game open. He blasted his first homer of the year to make it 9-0.
In the bottom of the fifth UPJ scored three to make it 9-3.
The Lakers were able to keep pouring it on in the seventh inning as they push four more runs across. Mercyhurst once again mounted a two-out rally as Banks had an RBI single. Sobaszek was able to come around to score on an error. Surowiec was able to add two RBIs as he doubled in the left center gap which brought Elliott and Banks around to score.
Team Leaders
Batting Average: Banks .343, Philip Ferranti .338, Gibson .326, Tyler Zaluski .300, Jackson .297
Home Runs: Elliott 6, Banks 4, Zaluski 2, Jackson, John Susnik
RBI: Elliott 19, Josh Surowiec 16, Jackson, Gibson 12, Banks 11
Runs: Banks 23, Elliott 17, Gibson 14, Zaluski 12
ERA (5 appearances min): Goonan 1.50, Krauza 1.61, Stewart 1.74, Michael McDonough 3.52
Strikeouts: McDonough 28, Krauza 26, Frank Fraschetti 17, Treece 15, Lucente 14
Up Next
The Laker will be back in PSAC play next weekend when they play a four-game series with California (PA). Mercyhurst will host on Friday before heading to Cal on Saturday.
