Indiana, Pa. - Mercyhurst went on the road to face IUP to open up their weekend with the Crimson Hawks, dropping two games by a final of 4-1 and 4-0.

How It Happened

Game One

IUP was able to strike first with a single run in the first frame thanks to a sacrifice fly to deep left. The Crimson Hawks threatened to extend their advantage, but Jarrett Heilman managed to get out of trouble with a pop out on the infield.

Lucas Folmar helped put the Laker on the board in the top of the third with a home run over the right field fence. The Mercyhurst first baseman led off the frame with a big fly, helping tie the game at 1-1.

After tying the game, the Lakers leaned on their pitcher Heilman to keep IUP off the board. The junior hurler seemed to find his rhythm in the middle innings with three strikeouts between the third and fourth innings, taking a 1-1 score into the sixth.

The Crimson Hawks scratched across a run in the top of the sixth to reclaim the lead at 2-1. Ad leadoff double spelled disaster for the Lakers. Two straight singles made it look like Mercyhurst would get out of the inning unscathed, but a single ended up letting the run score to give IUP a one-run lead before they piled on with two more to make it a 4-1 game going into the top of the seventh where they ended up taking the three-run win.

Game Two

The Crimson Hawks did not waste much time getting on the board in the second game, scoring a run in the bottom of the first. A one-out triple put IUP in a prime position to try and score first, doing so with an RBI ground ball to second. From that point on, Laker starter Jacob Bazala kept the opposition quiet as they failed to score over the next two

The Lakers could not manage to offer some offense for their pitcher as they were unable to score in the early going. The team had only three hits through the first four innings with all of those being doubles. Two of them were lead-off doubles, coming from Matt Christopher and Mitchell Grosch, giving the Lakers good run-scoring changes. They could not capitalize, though as the remained 1-0 in favor of the Crimson Hawks until the fourth inning where they scored three more to make it a 4-0 game.

That would be the offense of the game as the Lakers could muster only two base runners in scoring position over the last three innings in the four-run defeats.

Highlights

Mitchell Grosch led the team in hits with four hits, hitting one double in game number one of the day. Matt Christopher also finished with multiple hits, going 2-7 in the two games with a double in game two. 

Playoff Picture 

The Lakers are now 17-5 in the PSAC, holding second place in the West behind only Seton Hill who is 22-0 after defeating Gannon in a pair of game. The Golden Knights are now in fourth place in the West at 11-11 with IUP now in third place at 12-10.

Next Game

Mercyhurst comes home to play the Crimson Hawks on Saturday, April 29th, with first pitch at 1:00 p.m.