Glenville, W.Va.—The Mercyhurst Baseball team opened the 2022 season with a commanding 9-5 win over Fairmont State.
How it Happened
The Lakers jumped out to their first lead of the season in the first inning. Matthew Gibson opened the game with a double and then scored as Jack Elliott put the ball in play and forced the defense to make an error.
After Elliott advanced to second on the play, Josh Surowiec singled and brought Elliott home to make it 2-0.
Josh Greggs got the ball on the bump and struck out the first batter that he saw. Greggs went 3.1 innings and had six strikeouts while allowing two hits.
Fairmont State got on the board with a solo home run in the bottom of the second inning.
The Laker lead was 2-1 after three innings, in the third Aiden Shephard hit his first collegiate homer on just his second career hit. After the solo homer, Casimer Sobaszek singled and Brandon Arnold followed it up with a single. Sobaszek scored on a wild pitch while Arnold advanced to second. Gibson singled to put runners on the corners, Arnold scored on a passed ball with two outs.
In the bottom of fourth, Fairmont made it a 5-3 game.
Mercyhurst responded in the top of the fifth as Shephard drove in Suroweic. Sobaszek had a productive out as Troy Banks scored from third. Arnold then notched his second hit of the day to bring Shephard in to make it 8-3.
Fairmont State scored twice in the bottom of the sixth to make it a three run game. In the seventh the Lakers had a runner in scoring position after Surowiec doubled down the right field line. After Luke Jackson advanced Surowiec to third, Banks singled him to make it 9-5.
On The Bump
After Greggs went 3.1 innings, Jacob Bazala took over for his first career appearance. He went 1.2 innings allowing just one hit while striking out two of the seven batters he faced.
Hunter Treece struckout two in his inning of work while Robert Hartman also struckout two in an inning and a third of work.
Aiden Kelly earned the save by going 1.2 innings while striking out two in his first collegiate action.
Beyond The Box
Seven Lakers notched hits for the Lakers in the season opener while five of them had multi hit games. Arnold led the way going 4-5, last season he had just four at-bats and tallied a walk. Arnold also had three stolen bases.
The Lakers nine runs is the most in an opening day win for Mercyhurst since they won 13-7 in 2017 against West Virginia State. The Lakers went 38-8 that season and went to the NCAA Tournament.
Arnold and Shephard both made their first career starts for the Lakers while Kelly and Bazala made their collegiate debuts.
Up Next
The PSAC/MEC Challenge continues tomorrow as the Lakers take on the hosts in Glenville State, first pitch is slatted for 2:30 PM.
