Erie, Pa. - Mercyhurst baseball heads into the final week of March looking to end things on a high note with five games on the schedule for the week. The Lakers host Notre Dame (Oh.) on Tuesday, March 26th, in one nine inning game before Slippery Rock comes to town on the 29th for a doubleheader while the team goes to see the Rock the following day for two games.
Hitting His Stride
John Bufford Jr. comes off a weekend performance on the hill he won't soon forget. The Laker senior took the ball in game two against Seton Hill on Saturday, March 23rd, in a contest Mercyhurst ended up winning 7-1. The righty ended up going 7 innings while giving up just one run on three hits with 10 punch outs to his line to set a new career-high in Ks for the buckeye state native. Over his last 11 innings, Bufford Jr. has given up just two runs on seven hits with a total of 17 strikeouts to his ledger, making him one of the hotter pitchers in the conference over the last couple of weeks.
Laker Leaders
So far this season, Mitchell Grosch has been Mercyhurst's top hitter with a batting average of .417 while getting on base at a .517 clip to go along with a slugging percentage of .521 for a 1.038 OPS. He currently has 20 hits to his line for the most on the team while his four extra base hits are tied for second alongside John Susnik while Chris Juchno, Luke Jackson, and Zachary Kourous are tied for the team lead with five apiece. On the mound, Jacob Bazala has the best ERA with a mark of 3.31 while Corbin Foy's 1.33 WHIP is tops on the team. John Bufford Jr. comes in with the most innings pitch at 22.0 while his 28 Ks are the most of any Laker hurler.
Scouting Notre Dame
The Lakers have already seen the Falcons once this season, opening the new campaign with a 16-0 win over their counterpart, hoping for similar success this time around. Notre Dame is 5-16 on the year to this point with a 3-5 record in the MEC and have lost their last two while falling in six of their last seven. The team has found it tough on the road with only one win when away from their friendly confines, beating only Concord 10-3 on March 23rd. Pitching has not been quite what the team has wanted it to be to this point with 12 games in which they have given up 10 or more runs including two instances in which their opponents have scored 28 runs on them.
Scouting the Rock
Slippery Rock is 11-4 to this point in the season while going 3-1 in the conference with those trio of wins coming over Pitt-Johnstown this past weekend. The team is riding a three-game winning streak and has won five of their last seven, helping them hit their stride right as they enter conference play. Over their strong run, they have allowed just three runs per game while having a trio of shutouts to their line. At the plate it has been Gage Gillott and Micheal Kitko who have done a lot of the damage as they carry OPSs of 1.204 and 1.253 to this point in the season, respectively. Gillott has also been spectacular on the mound with an ERA of 1.21 in 29.2 innings of work with a team-high 29 strikeouts, making him someone who will prove crucial in the weekend series.
Next Game
Mercyhurst enters the month of April with Lake Erie being their first opponent as the Storm roll into Erie on Tuesday the 2nd before the team hosts Clarion for a pair of games on the 5th. Mercyhurst then goes to see the Golden Eagles the following day with first pitch scheduled for 1:00 p.m.
