Erie, Pa.—The Mercyhurst Baseball team plays five games over the next five days which includes four PSAC West games against the UPJ Mountain Cats. They also play another non-conference game against Notre Dame College on Tuesday at the Mercyhurst baseball field.
1. The Matchups
The Lakers and Mountain Cats have played since 1978, in their last 32 games the Lakers are 25-7 dating back to 2012. Last season the Lakers and UPJ split their season series with each team winning once on the road and once at home. Mercyhurst outscored UPJ 22-12 in the four game season series.
Notre Dame and the Lakers last played on Mar. 29 at Notre Dame with the Lakers coming away with a 13-2 win which included an 11 run seventh inning. In the last 18 games the Lakers have won 16 of them with their last loss coming in 2016.
2. Surowiec Is Tops In The Nation
First basemen Josh Surowiec is currently leading the nation in hitting as he has a .486 average through the first 21 games of the season. He has 35 hits this season, he also has 15 extra base hits (eight doubles, seven home runs). While he is has the best average on the team he has also scored a team high 26 runs while drawing 14 walks and driving in 23 runs. In his career he is hitting .339 he also has a .440 on base percentage. He has already set a new career high in home runs and he is quickly approaching his career high in runs, as a sophomore he scored 27 runs, he has 26 now.
3. Using The Long Ball
The Lakers are second in the PSAC in total homers, they are just one back of Bloomsburg who leads the conference, they have played seven more games then the Lakers. Mercyhurst has hit 39 balls over the fence this season and are led by Surowiec who has seven. Troy Banks and Aidan Shephard are behind him with five while three players have hit four this season including freshman Chris Juchno. Matthew Gibson led the Lakers in average last season and has four homers this season while returning home run leader Jack Elliott also has four. In total 13 different players have circled the bases this season with eight of them doing it more than once.
4. On The Bump
As a pitching staff, the Lakers have the lowest ERA in the conference which is 3.17, it is also seventh in the country. Against Gannon both John Bufford Jr. and Daniel Thomas turned in great performances. Bufford went 5.2 innings allowing just one run on three hits while striking out nine which is a career high for him. Thomas pitched a gem in final game of the Gannon series allowing just one hit in a complete game shutout. He struckout eight bringing his season total to 28. Eight players have made starts this season for the Lakers while 15 have pitched for the Lakers.
5. Scouting UPJ/NDC
UPJ is 13-12-1 this season while they have 2-6 PSAC West record. Their two conference wins came against Clarion while they dropped two to Clarion and were swept by Seton Hill. As a team they are hitting .277 while they have hit 21 homers this season and scored 154 runs so far. Their pitching staff has a 5.57 ERA while they have given up just 12 homers but opponents are hitting .298 against them.
Since playing Mercyhurst on Mar. 29, Notre Dame has won four straight games and are 12-16 this season. As a team they are hitting .273 with their top two hitters hitting .353 and .346. Their pitching staff is allowing a .296 batting average and have an ERA of 7.46.
