Erie, Pa. - After a second straight sweep of Salem, Mercyhurst Baseball now sits at 6-4 on the season and hopes to keep their winning ways going against the Eagles. The Lakers make the short trip to Ashland University on Tuesday, March 21st, with first pitch set for 3:00 p.m.
1 Short Past
Mercyhurst has only played Ashland thrice in the program's history with the Lakers holding a 2-1 record. The two teams met for a trio of games last season with a pair of games in Erie being split while the lone game on the road for the Lakers ending in a 10-8 victory. Offense has been the name of the game between the two teams as they have combined for 12.3 runs per game, making for some exciting contests.
2. Lucas Goes Long
Lucas Folmar had a great outing against Salem on Thursday in game one of the doubleheader as he finished the game 2-3 with a pair of home runs while driving in six runs. After spending the previous few years primarily as a pitcher, Folmar made his presence known with the bat. He is now hitting for a .400/.455./1.000 triple slash line with his two home runs being tied for the team lead alongside Eric Chorba. He, and the rest of his team, hopes his breakout against the Tigers is a sign of things to come for the rest of 2023.
3. Feeling At Home
The Lakers have yet to lose a true road game this season as they are currently 3-0 in away games. They defeated Salem in a three-game sweep to begin March by margins of 4-2, 4-0, and 9-8 with each of those wins coming via some late-inning heroics. It is their longest such streak to begin a season since the 2018 campaign when Mercyhurst won each of their first 12 away games. While this iteration of the Lakers still has a ways to go before reaching a dozen, they hope to inch closer with a victory on Tuesday.
4. Scouting the Eagles
Ashland is 10-6 on the season to this point after taking three out of four games against Findlay this past weekend. The Eagles have only played twice at their home ballpark with them grabbing wins in each. Both of those victories came over the Oilers on Thursday, including a 16-14, extra-inning victory. The team has two players with OPSs over 1.000 as Ben Paltz leads the team at 1.136 with a team-high three home runs and 20 RBIs. Ian Sanders comes in close behind at 1.113 with five doubles to lead the Eagles while being plunked five times.
5. Next Game
Mercyhurst turns their attention to the PSAC after the contest with Ashland as they begin their conference schedule this upcoming weekend. The Lakers go to Slippery Rock on Friday, March 24th, for a pair of games before hosting SRU the following day with start times of 1:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. each day.
