Greensburg, Pa. - After yesterday's win over East Stroudsburg, the Lakers found themselves up against Seton Hill today in a tightly contested game. It was back-and-forth in the early going with the Lakers able to grab the win in grand slam, walk-off fashion as Luke Jackson sent Mercyhurst home happy in the 8-6 win
How It Happened
The Griffins were able to strike first with a pair of runs in the opening frame. A leadoff walk came around to score thanks to an error on the infield while the second came off of an RBI single to right field. Mercyhurst had a rebuttal in the bottom half of the second with a trio of runs. The first came on a triple from Zachary Kourous while Lucas Folmar brought in his teammate on a home run to center, making it a 3-2 score.
Seton Hill didn't stay down for long as they were able to score three in their half of the fourth to help them reclaim the lead. A two-run home run after a leadoff single gave the Griffins a 4-3 lead before another single three batters later made it a two-run game.Â
Mercyhurst managed to scratch one run across in their half of the frame as three straight singles did the trick. The final base knock came courtesy of the designated hitter Jack Malec who singled up the middle to make it a 5-4 game going deeper into the middle innings.
Mercyhurst looked like they were going to tie things up or take the lead in both the fifth and sixth, but an inning-ending double play in the fifth and a 6-3 putout in the sixth ended the Laker threats and kept the score deadlocked at 5-4 with the Griffins in front going into the later cantos.
After the Griffins were able to score an insurance run in the top of the ninth, Mercyhurst came up for their last opportunity at the plate. A leadoff hit by Malec gave the Lakers some life with the top of the order coming up. Matt Christopher reached on a hit by pitch while Eric Chorba reached on a throwing error by the pitcher. The Laker centerfielder bunted the ball back to the Griffin hurler with his throw pulling off the second baseman, setting the stage for Jackson. The Erie native swung for strike one before uncorking one over the left field wall for a grand slam walk-off win in the thrilling 8-6 finale.
Highlights
Jacob Bazala pitched very well out of the bullpen, going 4.2 innings while allowing just one run on two hits and two walks. He added eight strikeouts to his line for the second most this season by the Laker hurler. Lucas Folmar turned in a great day on offense with three base hits including a home run and he was followed by Zachary Kourous, Jack Malec, and Luke Jackson who each had two with Jackson's grand slam being the biggest out of the group.
Next Game
The Lakers move on in the winner's bracket and now await the winner of tomorrow's first game between East Stroudsburg and Seton Hill. The Warriors and Griffins start things at 11:00 a.m. for the right to play Mercyhurst at 2:30 p.m.
