Erie, Pa.—The Mercyhurst Baseball team enters the week with a 12-3 record after winning their first PSAC West series against Clarion. Mercyhurst plays six games this weekend including a four game weekend set with Gannon, thye close it out against Lake Erie next Tuesday.
1. The Matchups
Against Notre Dame the Lakers are 15-2 in their last 17 games with their last loss coming in 2016 when the Lakers were swept in a doubleheader. Mercyhurst hosted the Falcons last season and won 5-2 at home.
Gannon has been a staple of the Mercyhurst schedule since the start in 1973. In the last 40 games against Gannon the Lakers are 26-14, last season the Lakers split last season with the Golden Knights with both teams sweeping the home doubleheader.
Lake Erie fell to the Lakers in a double header on March 15th, by scores of 22-3 and 7-2 at the Mercyhurst Baseball Field.
2. Let's Recap
The Lakers took on the Clarion Golden Eagles this past weekend and took three of four games including sweeping the home doubleheader on Friday.
Mercyhurst outscored the Golden Eagles 36-14 in the four games including scoring 10 or more runs in three of the games. After registering just three hits in the first game of the series, the Lakers had ten hits in game two which included four homers. Six players had hits while Luke Jackson led the way with four hits. Jarrett Heilman went six innings on the bump striking out seven and allowing three hits. On Friday in wet conditions the Lakers scored 25 runs which included five homers and 24 hits. Josh Greggs earned the win in the first game on Friday while John Bufford Jr. was credited with the win in the final game of the series.
3. On The Bump
The Laker pitching staff has a 3.28 ERA as a team while they have struckout 166 batters. They are limiting opposing hitters to just a .197 average this season. The opposing hitter batting average is the best in the conference while their ERA is fourth in the PSAC.
Heilman has the lowest ERA for players with two or more appearances, he currently sits at .77 which is second in the PSAC and fourth in the nation. He also has four wins which is tied for third in the conference. Greggs and Heilman are fourth and fifth in the PSAC with hitters hitting .173 and .179 against them this season. Freshman Jacob Bazala has made a team high six appearances and has a 2-0 record while holding opposing hitters to a .212 average over 14 innings.
Seven different pitchers have started for the Lakers while 15 Lakers have thrown a pitch for Mercyhurst in the early season.
4. Using the Long Ball
Mercyhurst has hit over triple the amount of homers then they have given up this season. 36 balls have been hit over the wall this season for the Lakers which is the most in the conference despite playing the fourth least amount of games this season. Josh Surowiec leads the Lakers in round trippers as he has six this season, that is fourth in the PSAC. Troy Banks and Aidan Shephard are second on the team with five each while Matthew Gibson and Chris Juchno each have four. 13 different players have hit homers this season, last year only 11 did while the team hit 54 total in the season. The Lakers are tops in the nation in homers per game (2.4).
5. Scouting Notre Dame/Gannon/Lake Erie
Notre Dame is 7-14 this season and 3-3 in MEC play this season. The Falcons have played just one PSAC team this season and that was Seton on Mar. 11 while playing in Auburndale, FL, they fell 13-6 to the Griffins. As a team NDC is hitting .246 while they have just three players hitting over .300 who have played ten or more games. The pitching staff has an ERA of 7.22 while opposing hitters are hitting .303 against them this season.
Gannon has the nations leading hitter in Miguel Vega who is hitting .548 in 12 games this season. The Golden Knights have played 13 games this season and have a record of 9-4 with a 1-1 record in PSAC West play. Last week, Gannon played half of their slated weekend with Cal. In the opener Gannon won 1-0 before falling 8-1 in game two. As a team Gannon is hitting .269 and have hit 16 homers this season. Opposing hitters are hitting .285 against them while their pitching staff has a 4.79 ERA.
Lake Erie is 3-19 entering the game with the Lakers, they were swept this weekend by Ashland and were outscored 44-12 in the four game series. As a team they are hitting .209 this season and have a .282 on base percentage. Mark Ross is the only batter hitting over .300 this season for the Storm. The pitching staff has an ERA of 12.24 and has allowed 22 homers this season.
