Erie, Pa. - Mercyhurst baseball began their season the way that they had hoped as they got the win against Notre Dame Friday afternoon. The Lakers put on a show inside their friendly confines in the win with the team recording 17 hits, putting six of them over the wall to help them grab the 16-0 win to move to 1-0 on the year and help Head Coach Jimmy Latona begin his career in historic fashion.

How it Happened

After a scoreless first inning, the Lakers brought the bang with the bottom of the their order in the second. Zachary Kourous got things started with single before stealing second and making his way to third on a groundout. He was able to jog the rest of the way as he was the first of two runs scored off of the Jack Malec home run with the designated hitter going the other way to make it a 2-0 score. The team then extended their lead in the following frame thanks to a pair of RBI singles. The first came from Mitchell Grosch who shot one out to right field to score Luke Jackson while Kourous had the second, bringing in Grosch and Chris Juchno to help give the Lakers the momentum and a 5-0 lead.

Kourous got back to work in the 5th inning to help give Mercyhurst an 8-0 lead. The sophomore got the second home run of the season for Mercyhurst as he sent one deep over the right first wall and on top of the Mercyhurst Ice Center as the Lakers had taken complete control. Shortstop Matt Christopher made it a 9-0 game in the sixth for the first of four runs in the frame. He was followed by home runs from both Eric Chorba and Juchno with the first scoring Christopher to help them take a 12-0 lead. 

In the seventh, senior John Susnik kept the ball rolling as he got a homer of his own, sending one deep over the left field wall. He was followed by another RBI hit from Christopher before Luke Jackson hit the final of the six home runs for the Lakers as the score stood at 16-0 going into the eighth before a quiet few final innings in the blowout season opener.

Highlights

The Lakers registered 17 hits in the game to go along with 16 runs with nine of those being for extra bases thanks to a trio of doubles and half a dozen dingers. The 16 runs for Mercyhurst is the most they have scored in a single since the 16 they put up against UPJ in early April of 2022 and their 17 hits since they had 20 against Salem in that same season on March 11th. Jack Malec and Zachary Kourous tied for the team-lead in hits with three apiece while Luke Jackson and Matt Christopher rounded out the group of players with multiple base knocks with two apiece. Kourous finished with the most RBIs of anyone as he drove in five while Malec finished as the only Lakers with multiple extra-base hits as he had both a double and a two-run home run in the second inning for the first runs of the game. For new Head Coach Jimmy Latona, it's a victory for the record books as the 16-0 win is the first shutout victory for a coach in his first game while being the largest margin of victory and the second-most runs in such a game, making for the start of a great career at the helm.

Next Game

The Lakers have some time off before their next game as they are not scheduled to play again until the 23rd of February when they go to Glenville, WV to take on D'Youville at 6:00 p.m. They then see Charleston the following day before finishing things out on the 25th in a 11:00 a.m. start with Glenville State.