Erie, Pa.—The No. 23 Ranked Mercyhurst Baseball team is back on the diamond this week as they head back to Salem to take on Concord on Thursday and Salem on once again on Friday. This is projected to be the final two games before the Lakers have their home opener on Mar. 15 against Lake Erie.
Offensive Explosion
The Lakers scored 41 runs in their three games this past weekend while allowing just seven runs. Mercyhurst opened the weekend with nine runs against Alderson Broaddus that included Ryan Perretti driving in three runs while driving in a team high three runs in the game. Against Wheeling, the Lakers scored 19 runs for the second time in three games. Seven Lakers had hits in the game while the team drew 15 walks against the Cardinals and had 16 RBI on the day. In the final day of the weekend, the Lakers put up 13 runs on 12 hits, eight Lakers had hits while four of them notched multi-hit games.
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Aiden Morrison joined the Lakers this season as a transfer from Canisius. Morrison has came off the bench three times this season has tallied one hit in his two at-bats. His lone hit was grand slam against Wheeling, it was also his first collegiate homer and hit.
Aidan Shephard joined the Lakers as a freshman last season and did not see much action. This season he has played in four games starting in each of them and has a .357 batting average. He has driven in 10 runs this season on five hits. In the two games on Saturday he notched three home runs and drove in seven runs. He has also came around to score 10 runs while also making four putouts in the outfield.
On The Bump
The Laker pitching staff has a combined ERA of 2.85 this season while also limiting opposing hitters to a .193 batting average. The staff has struckout 76 hitters while Jarrett Heilman leads the team with 16 strikeouts. In his second start of the year against Salem on Sunday he struckout 12 over six innings of work. Josh Greggs has started two games this season and has struckout 12 batters and has limited hitters to a .120 average. Every pitcher that has taken the bump for Mercyhurst has recorded a strikeout for the Lakers.
Mix Of Youth and Experience
Four-year starter Josh Surowiec leads the team with a .476 batting average while blasting three homers in six games. Matthew Gibson is in his fifth season with the Lakers and has a .313 batting average while scoring five runs and drawing eight walks in the top of the lineup. Fifth year player Troy Banks has also provided solid offense with one homer and six RBI.
The combo of Shephard and Brandon Arnold are second and third on the team in batting average, both joined the team last season as freshman and did not get many plate appearances. Arnold is hitting .353 and has stolen four bases. Perretti played in five games in his first year but was hampered by injuries last season. This year he has a .400 average and has six hits with two triples.
Scouting the Opponents
Concord is 6-3-1 this season with wins coming over UPJ, Bluefield State, Virginia-Wise, and Kutztown. The Mountain Lions have scored over 10 runs in four games and are 2-1-1 in those games. Chris Satcher is hitting an incredible .531 this season while driving in 16 runs. The pitching staff has a combined 7.27 ERA while opposing hitters are hitting just under .300 against Concord.
The Lakers and Salem are no strangers to each other as they have played once this season and six times in the last two seasons, the Lakers are 5-1 in the last six games against the Tigers. Salem is 3-10 this season with their wins coming over Fairmont State, Mansfield, and Alderson Broaddus. Luis Angarita leads the Tigers with a .394 batting average while the team average is .261. Opposing hitters are hitting .327 against the Tigers.
