Erie, PA—The Mercyhurst baseball team will continue their quest for a PSAC championship on Sunday as they will take on the Seton Hill Griffins who are currently ranked seventh in the country. The two teams will play a best of three series that will start on Sunday at noon in Greensburg, the Lakers will be the home team for game two. If necessary, game three will be played on Monday at noon.
Laker Outlook
Mercyhurst is coming off a 10-3 win over the California (PA) Vulcans on Wednesday at home. Nathan Holt got the ball for the Lakers on the mound and went 4.1 innings for the Lakers and allowed just two runs on five hits in just his fourth start of the season. Michael Krauza made his 20th appearance as he picked up his PSAC leading tenth win of the season.
The Laker hitters hit four homers on the day to secure the win. Luke Baranchak was able to get the Lakers on the board in the third inning as he blasted his third homer of the season to tie the game at one. Cal would respond with a homer in the fourth to take the lead right back
Matthew Gibson would tie the game in the bottom of the fourth as he brought Jack Elliott around to score the second run of the game. Baranchak would then single to bring Gibson across to take the lead back, Casimer Sobaszek then doubled to right field which brought Baranchak across to give the Lakers a two-run lead. Gibson would then homer in the fifth inning that pushed the Laker lead to 7-2.
In the seventh, the Lakers made a Cal comeback near impossible as Troy Banks homered to make it 8-2 and then Logan Martella-Tasick hit a two-run shot to push the Lakers into double digits. The Vulcans homered in the ninth, but the comeback fell well short.
By the Numbers
Mercyhurst currently ranks sixth in the PSAC in batting average as they are hitting .295 as a team this season, the Lakers are also third in the PSAC in hits with 329 in their 40 games this season. The Green and Blue have 74 doubles this season along with 51 homers which puts them in third for doubles and fourth for homers. Mercyhurst are showing off their good eyes as they have drawn 173 walks which is third most in the PSAC.
The Mercyhurst pitching staff has the second lowest ERA in the PSAC with a 4.47. The Lakers have also struckout 347 batters which leads the PSAC. Opponents are only hitting .237 against the Lakers this year which is third in the PSAC.
Elliott is currently tied for the most homers in the PSAC as he has blasted 14 over the fence this season, he is also sixth in the PSAC with 37 RBIs this season. Gibson is currently ninth in the PSAC in batting average as he is currently hitting .384 this season, he is also fifth in on base percentage with a .527. Krauza has been one of the best pitchers in the PSAC this season while being the best relief pitcher in the conference. He is currently second in ERA with a 2.13 and is the only relief pitcher in the top 30 in ERA. He also has a PSAC leading ten wins this season while holding opposing hitters to a .187 batting average which is third in the conference.
Series with Seton Hill
Since 2014, the Lakers have a record of 15-18 against Seton Hill. This season the Lakers finished with a 1-2 regular season record against the Griffins, the two teams played four games, however after a Mercyhurst protest was upheld the game was not made up.
In game one of the series, Mercyhurst defeated the Griffins thanks to a three-run walk off home run from Josh Surowiec. Michael McDonough went five innings and allowed four hits while striking out five. Krauza picked up the win as he went two innings and allowed just one run on two hits.
Game two of the series went the Griffins way by a score of 4-2. Vincenzo Lucente went four innings in the start and allowed one run on two hits while striking out five. Luke Jackson went two for three at the plate with a homer.
The final game of the series also went the Griffins way as they won 5-4. Mercyhurst had eight hits as Troy Banks, Philip Ferranti and, Tyler Zaluski each had multi hit games. Zaluski led the way with three hits including a homer and a double against his former squad. Banks had two doubles in the loss along with an RBI.
Scouting the Griffins
Ranked number seven in the nation, the Griffins record currently sits at 32-4 while they finished 23-4 in PSAC regular season and a perfect 21-0 at home. In the quarterfinal round of the PSAC playoffs, they faced Gannon and defeated the Golden Knights by a score of 6-0 on Wednesday. The Griffins tallied 11 hits with seven different players recording hits while Own Sabol went four for five out of the leadoff position. Tommy Pellis leads the PSAC in hitting and is tied for the most homers as well, he was named the NWCBA National Hitter of the Week this past week. On the mound nine different guys have made a start for the Griffins. Against the Lakers, Ben Vicini, Kevin Vaupel, and Jon McCullough started for Seton Hill this season with Jared Kollar starting on Wednesday against Gannon.
Up Next
Seton Hill and Mercyhurst are the two remaining teams on the west side of the PSAC, on the east side Millersville and Bloomsburg remain. The winners of each series will travel to the last remaining west seed for a three-game series that will begin on May 21st for the PSAC Championship.
The NCAA Division II Baseball selection show will take place on May 23rd at 10 PM. This week the NCAA announced their second under consideration poll, Mercyhurst was on the list with four other PSAC schools including Cal and Seton Hill.
Seton Hill's fan policy can be found
here.
