Erie, Pa. - Another week is in the books for the Lakers with a number of strong performances. Marisa Cartellone of softball and Jarrett Heilman of baseball stood out the most, earning them PPG Athlete of the Week honors
Cartellone played in six games on the week, going 3-16 overall while the Lakers finished 2-4. Her strongest efforts came in the team's doubleheader with Seton Hill on Saturday as the senior went 3-6 at the plate while driving in four runs. She finished game one with a pair of hits while having the lone extra-base hit of the game for Mercyhurst with a double and followed that up with her first home run of the season in the backend of the doubleheader.
The native of Medina, Oh. has gotten on a roll of late as she is 16-48 for a .333 average since the start of April while getting on base at a .396 clip and a .541 SLG with seven of her 16 hits going for extra bases. Cartellone has had five games over that stretch with multiple hits with her best performance coming against UPJ at the beginning of the month in a 4-4 game with a trio of RBIs and both a double and a triple.
Mercyhurst hosts Slippery Rock in a mid-week conference matchup on Wednesday with first pitch set for 2:30 p.m. The Lakers then hit the road for UPJ on Friday with IUP next on the docket the following day.
Heilman and the Lakers were able to grab a trio of wins on the weekend over UPJ with Heilman setting the tone in game one with a complete game shutout in the Laker's 14-0 win. The junior hurler gave up just six hits and a pair of walks over the seven innings while fanning six to move to 5-1 on the year. He has hit his stride here of late, allowing just one run in his lat 28 innings of work while giving up 15 hits and striking out 29.
The native of Freeport, Pa. currently has an ERA of 1.34 and a WHIP of 1.04 in 47 innings of work while striking out 47 and allowing just a .190 batting average. Heilman's ERA and batting average against are both first in the PSAC while his ERA comes in at seventh in the country, showing himself to be one of the top arms in the nation.
The Lakers play just four games on the week with a series against Cal (Pa.) scheduled for this Friday and Saturday. The Vulcans come to town on Friday before the two teams return to the diamond the following day for a 1:00 p.m. start inside the Wild Things Park.
