Erie, Pa. - The final week of April provided the Lakers with some stellar performances with two individuals standing above the rest. Women's Lacrosse's Maggie Newton and Baseball's Mitchell Grosch put together career efforts, helping name them the PPG Athletes of the Week.

Newton and the Lakers fought their way into the PSAC Tournament this week with the native of Skaneateles, N.Y. proving to be a big reason why. In the team's two wins on the week, Newton netted nine goals with a career-high seven coming in the team's first game against Gannon. The sophomore got the ball rolling in the first period against the Golden Knights with four goals before scoring two more times in the second period. Her final score proved to be a big one as a goal with just under 12 minutes to go in the game made it an 11-8 game, giving the Lakers some much-needed insurance. 

Newton has proved to be an offensive force for Mercyhurst this season. She has scored a team-high 37 goals with at least one score in each game and six where she has scored three or more. Her seven-goal outburst marks the second time this season and fourth time in her career she has scored five or more goals in a game, setting a new career-high for the sophomore.

She and the rest of the Lakers prepare for the PSAC Tournament now as they are set to take on IUP in the opening round today as the two teams square off at 4:00 p.m. at IUP.

Grosch got it done on the diamond for Mercyhurst this week, having one of the better weeks of his career. The junior started things off with a home run to seal a 3-2 win over Notre Dame (Oh.) last Wednesday before adding on with six more extra-base hits on the week. The infielder hit for a .500/.563/1.643 triple slash line for an OPS of 2.206 with all seven of his hits going for extra bases including one home run, one triple, and five doubles. Three of his five doubles came in game two of the series against IUP last Thursday, proving to be a day he won't soon forget.

The native of Warren, Pa. has put together a strong season up to this point, batting .333 with a trio of home runs and coming in first on the team in doubles with 12. He has found his groove over the course of April, hitting for a .390 average in 20 games with 11 of his 12 doubles coming in that time. He has a hit in 16 of his last 20 games with multiple hits in five while his season-high of three came in the second game of the four-game set against IUP when had a trio of doubles.

The Lakers play host to Notre Dame (Oh.) today at 2:00 p.m. before finishing out their regular season schedule with Seton Hill this weekend when they play the Griffins at home on Thursday before going to Greensburg, Pa. the following day.