Erie, Pa. - Mercyhurst Baseball goes on the road for their second week of action with the team set to play in the Glenville State Tournament. The team begins with Millersville on Friday, February 24th, at 2:00 p.m. with first pitch against West Chester set for 5:00 p.m. the following day. The team also sees D'Youville in Morgantown, WV for a two-game set at West Virginia on Sunday with start times of 11:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m.
1. Starting Strong
Mercyhurst got their season started off the way they wanted to last week with a midweek matchup against D'Youville in which the Lakers won 5-2. Newcomer Vincent Stutz got the Lakers on the board for the first time in 2023 with a home run while Mitchell Grosch followed suit with a two-run bomb in the seventh. Daniel Thomas came in out of the bullpen and pitched well, going five innings and collecting six strikeouts while allowing just one hit and one walk.
2. Cold Weather Killers
Coach Spano and company have not always had the luxury of playing in February due to unforgiving conditions. When they have, though, they have played well. Over the past five seasons, Mercyhurst is 8-4 in games played in February and they have scored 87 runs for an average of 7.25 runs per game. Their best offensive performance came last season during the MEC v PSAC challenge when the team scored 19 runs against Alderson Broaddus.
3. Scouting Millersville
The Marauders have been busy here in the early part of the year as they have already played 10 games, going 7-3 in that span. They average over seven runs a game with their offense coming alive during a three-game stretch in which they scored 43 runs with 23 of them coming in a 23-1 win over Chowan. The team currently has three players with OPSs over 1.000 including Bren Taylor who carries a .378/.511/.676 triple slash line into the weekend to go along with eight walks, two home runs, and 11 RBIs.
4. Scouting The Rams
West Chester is a 3-1 so far on the season after a two-game sweep of Clarion to begin the year and splitting a pair of contests with Tiffin this past weekend. They come off a season in which they finished 36-15 overall with a 17-7 mark in the PSAC and look of similar success this time around thanks to a strong start. West Chester has two players with OPSs above 1.100 as Even Profy and Zack Miles both have paced the offense for the Rams, each hitting one home run while combining for four stolen bases in as many attempts.
5. Scouting D'Youville
Mercyhurst sees the Saints just a week and a half later after opening the season with them. The Saints have never beaten Mercyhurst in their three tries with the Lakers outscoring their counterparts 36-6 over the course of that trio of contests. The Saints finished last season 14-22, improving on the previous season's record by 12 wins. They look for back-to-back seasons of double-digit wins for the first time in over a decade with similar success in 2023.
