Erie, Pa. - Mercyhurst Baseball begins their postseason run this week with the PSAC Tournament beginning on Wednesday, May 10th, in Slippery Rock, Pa. The Lakers are tasked with West Chester first as they look to make a deep run and claim the PSAC title for the first time since 2011.
1. Looking Back
The Lakers come off a spectacular regular season in which they finished 28-14 overall while going 21-7 in conference for the most wins in PSAC play since 2017 when they finished with 21. The Mercyhurst Baseball Field proved to be the definition of friendly confines as the team went 16-2 at home for their best win percentage since 2016 (20-2). The team had a five-week span beginning in March and lasting through the 8th of April in which they could hardly lose, going 16-2 over that span, and hope to repeat that success here when it counts the most.
2. One Game At A Time
Mercyhurst has found some success in the PSAC Tournament here of late with the team winning their opening round matchup in four of the last five seasons. They have outscored opponents by 13 runs in those games with their largest victory being a 14-0 win over East Stroudsburg in 2017. The lone year in which they did not win their opening round game was 2018 when they advanced all the way to the semifinal matchup of the College World Series.
3. Leading the Way
The Lakers put together some great offensive performances with the team finishing in the top-10 in several categories in the PSAC. Eric Chorba's four triples tied him for second in the conference while Luke Jackson finished tied for third in home runs with nine. Matt Christopher led the PSAC in hit by pitches (18) and Zachary Kourous finished tied for fifth in fewest strikeouts (10). On the mound, Jarrett Heilman led the conference in ERA (1.38), complete games (6), and shutouts (4) while being eighth in strikeouts (64) and batting average against (.220).
4. Pitch Perfect
Mercyhurst's pitching staff proved to be one of the better ones in the PSAC as they found themselves near the top of several statistical categories. They had the fourth-lowest ERA at 4.06 while giving up the fewest doubles (43) and home runs (19) of any team. The Lakers were tough to hit all season long as they own the second-lowest batting average against at .236 with 333 strikeouts to their name, the sixth most of any team while their K/9 held at 9.25 for the third-best in the PSAC.
5. Scouting West Chester
The Golden Rams finished the season 28-16 with a 14-10 mark in the PSAC, good enough for third in the East. The two teams met once during the regular season at the end of February with West Chester getting the win by a final of 5-3. The history between Mercyhurst and the Golden Rams has been a tightly contested one with an 8-8 all-time mark with West Chester outscoring the Lakers 101-84 over that span. John DeMucci has been the team's top hitter with a 1.029 OPS to lead the team while stealing 17 bases. Joe Kaleck is not far behind with a .339/.431/.474 triples slash line and a team-leading 14 doubles and 33 swiped bags.
