ERIE, Pa -- The Mercyhurst university wrestling team dropped a 29-12 decision on Saturday afternoon against the visiting Pitt-Johnstown Mountain Cats. The Lakers earned victories in three of the ten bouts including one bonus point win by Eric Bartos.
Bartos was the first Lakers to put points on the board. The redshirt junior pinned UPJ's Dajauhn Hertzog with just 18 seconds remaining in their 133 pound bout to secure six points for the Lakers.
In a matchup of two nationally ranked grapplers at 174, it was Mercyhurst's
Dillon Walker who came away with a commanding 17-10 decision over No. 4 Brock Biddle. Walker returned to the mat after a lengthy injury timeout in the third period to close out Biddle for one of his best wins of the season.
Hunter Harnish earned the remaining Laker victory at 197 pounds over the Mountain Cat's Dakoda Rodger. Harnish led for the duration of the bout and walked off the mat with his hand raised, defeating Rodger by a 4-2 decision.
Up next, the Lakers will enter postseason play as they are scheduled to participate at the Super Region One Championships on Saturday Feb. 26th, hosted by Pitt-Johnstown.
The team celebrated its 13 seniors before the match as part of senior day festivities, the full list of Mercyhurst senior wrestlers is below.
Jason Breeden
Vinny Catanzaro
Mike Clark
Dom Ferranti
Aidan Fultz
Spencer Head
Justin Petrilena
Logan Pollick
Jacob Robb
Jacob Ruggeri
Kiran Shah
Reagan Soledad
Alexis Soriano
