Morgantown, WV - Mercyhurst Baseball falls in their second game of the Glenville State Tournament by a final of 5-3. For a second straight day, the Lakers saw a PSAC East foe in West Chester with the Golden Rams using a four-run first inning to take a lead they would never relinquish.

How it Happened

The Lakers were able to get off to a strong start as they scored a pair of runs in the first inning. Matt Christopher and Zachary Kourous were both able to get on base with singles and came around to score thanks to Mitchell Grosch to help stake Mercyhurst to the early lead. West Chester responded with four runs in the bottom of the frame as they jumped on the Laker right hander Daniel Thomas.

Thomas settled in after a rough first as he did not allow a run over the next five frames. The junior was able to find his rhythm in the second and put the first stanza behind him, making for a strong outing. Mercyhurst managed to back up their hurler with a run in the top of the fourth as they had closed the gap to just one run going into the back half of the contest.

The Golden Ram's offense found a way to scratch across one more run in the bottom of the seventh to give them some insurance and knock Thomas out of the game. From there, newcomer Vincent Stutz came into the game for the Lakers and helped keep his team within striking distance as the score held at 5-3 going into the top of the eighth. Unfortunately for Mercyhurst, they were unable to get it done in the batters box and found themselves on the wrong side of the scoreboard at the end of the game.

Highlights

Zachary Kourous led the team in hits with two, making his presence known in his first start in a Laker uniform. Matt Christopher added one more hit to his tally after having one of the team's three hits yesterday, scoring one run and knocking in another as well. Eric Chorba also had a hit in yesterday's game and did so in this one as he finished 1-3 at the plate with a run scored. Daniel Thomas pitched 6.2 innings while walking just two batters and fanning a dozen batters for his most strikeouts in a game since early May of last season when he struck out 13 against Slippery Rock.

Next Game

Mercyhurst is back on the diamond tomorrow as they play a pair of games against D'Youville to round out the weekend. The two teams are set to square off in Morgantown, WV with first pitch set for 11:00 a.m. with game two set to begin immediately after.