Erie, Pa.—The Mercyhurst Baseball team split their final home doubleheader of the season with a loss in game one and then a convincing win in game two.
Game One (L, 12-10)
Neither team scored in the first two innings. In the third inning the offense for both teams started to heat up. Slippery Rock scored twice in the top of the inning.
With one out in the bottom of the third Chris Juchno hit a towering homer to right field to open the scoring for the Lakers. On the next pitch Troy Bank singled up the middle, Casimer Sobaszek followed it up with a five pitch walk to put two runners on for Josh Surowiec. On the first pitch he saw Surowiec singled home banks to tie the game at two. Luke Jackson was hit by a pitch to load the bases for Jack Elliott. Elliott ripped a 1-2 pitch to right field that scored two to make it 4-2.
Slippery Rock responded with three runs in the top of the fourth to take the lead back and make it 5-4.
In the bottom of the frame, Juchno drew a one out walk. After an 11 pitch at bat Banks homered to left field give the Lakers a one run lead.
Once again in the top of the fifth the Rock responded with two runs to make it 7-6 and take the lead back.
Neither team scored again until the top of the seventh when the Rock plated five runs to take a 12-6 lead.
Down six the Lakers mounted a comeback in the bottom of the seventh. Elliott started it with a walk, following an out Matthew Gibson walked to put two runners on. Aidan Shephard was summoned to pinch hit and hit a 1-0 pitch over the wall to make it 12-9. Juchno decided to go back-to-back for his second homer of the game to make it 12-10. Banks started the rally back up with a single and Sobaszek followed suit on the next pitch. Surowiec stepped to the plate as the winning run. On the 1-0 pitch the ball got away from the catcher and each runner moved up 90 feet, once this happened the Rock intentionally walked Surowiec to load the bases. The Rock hurler struckout the next two batters to end the game with the winning run stranded at first base.
The Lakers used six pitchers on the mound in game one while they allowed 11 hits. As a staff they combined four nine strikeouts, seven flyouts, and five groundouts.
Game Two (W, 12-3)
The Laker bats stayed hot between games as Sobaszek hit his second homer of the season on the second pitch of the game to make it 1-0. One batter later Surowiec hit is 17th homer of the season which broke the school record that was set in 2009 to make it 2-0.
In the bottom of the second the Laker offense continued to product. Gibson and John Susnik had back to back hits to start the inning but Gibson was called out on a rundown. Shephard then reached on a fielder's choice that retired Susnik. Sobaszek singled to put runners on first and second with two outs for Elliott. On the first pitch he saw he homered to center field to make it 5-0. Surowiec drew a 3-2 walk after the homer to bring Banks to the plate. On a 3-2 pitch with Surowiec running he doubled down the left field line to score Surowiec from first and make it 6-0. Juchno was up after Banks and hit his third homer of the day to make it 8-0 after two innings.
In the third, the Lakers weren't done yet. Sunnik was hit by a pitch, Shephard walked, and Sobaszek walked to load the bases for Elliott. He singled to center field to drive in two runs and make it 10-0 Lakers.
In the fourth, Luke Jackson started the inning with a solo homer to make it 11-0. Later in the inning with two outs and runners on first and third Elliott doubled to left field to score the runner from third and make it 12-0 Mercyhurst.
The Rock got all three of their runs in the third inning and made it an eight run game. Neither team scored again the contest.
Daniel Thomas started on the mound and went the complete game allowing three runs on eight hits while striking out 13 and allowing no walks.
Using the Long Ball
Surowiec hit his 17th homer of the season to set a new Mercyhurst record while Juchno hit three homers on the day. The Lakers entered the weekend as one of top teams in the country in homers per game. They lead the PSAC in homers with 84 as a team while the next closest team is nine behind the Lakers.
Playoff Picture
Every game in the PSAC West but the Mercyhurst-Slippery Rock games were postponed on Friday so the playoff picture is still wide open for the final three playoff spots. Gannon is the only team in the west to have clinched while five teams are still fighting for the final three spots.
Hear From The Team
Up Next
The Lakers and Rock are slated to close out the regular season tomorrow at Slippery Rock but the forecast is calling for rain all day. All PSAC games must be played by Sunday night.
