Slippery Rock, Pa.—The Mercyhurst Baseball team advanced passed the elimination game on Wednesday afternoon as they defeated the region's top team in West Chester.
How it Happened
The first two innings consisted of the two starting pitchers dueling as they allowed a combined one hit in the opening frames.
West Chester struck first in the bottom of the third inning on a balk to make it 1-0.
Jack Elliott led off the next inning and on the second pitch he saw he hit a no doubt moonshot to right field to tie the ballgame at one.
The Rams took the lead back in the bottom half to make it 2-1. The third West Chester run was cut down at the plate as he was thrown out by Matthew Gibson in left field.
Neither team scored again until the Lakers tied the game in the top of the seventh. Josh Surowiec drew a walk to open the inning. After two outs, Surowiec swiped second to put a runner in scoring position. Philip Ferranti had an eight pitch at bat and then singled up the middle to tie the game at two. Two pitches later with Ferranti on first, Gibson lifted an 0-1 pitch to right field that went over the wall.
The Lakers made their lead three in the top of the ninth inning as Ferranti notched a one out single. Brandon Arnold pinch ran for him and advanced on a wild pitch to second. After a Gibson groundout Arnold scored on a throwing error by the second baseman.
Daniel Thomas started on the mound for the Lakers and had one of his best outings of the season. The sophomore went 7.2 innings, he scattered six hits while striking out eight allowing two runs (one earned). Freshman Jacob Bazala took over and earned his fourth save of the season as he allowed one hit in 1.1 innings. He notched three strikeouts while also getting one groundout.
Hear From The Team
Up Next
The Lakers play the winner of Gannon and East Stroudsburg at 2 PM tomorrow at Slippery Rock. The winner moves on while loser moves into the loser's bracket and plays again at 7:00 tomorrow night.
