Salem, WV - Mercyhurst baseball went on the road Friday afternoon for the first two of four games this weekend. The Lakers saw Salem in their weekend opener for a pair of games and came away with a 6-1 win in game one before a 7-6 defeat in the back half of the doubleheader.

How it Happened

The Lakers came out of the gates hot, putting the first two runs on the board in their first time up to the plate. A lead off double from Matt Christopher had the team in business right away, but two consecutive outs put Mercyhurst in a position where they may be turned away. After a walk, Mitchell Grosch came to the plate and hit a triple down the right field line, just keeping the ball inside the foul line to help score the pair of Laker runners and give his team the lead. 

After Salem scored once in the bottom of the first, the Lakers got back to work in the third with two more runs. The first three batters of the frame reached while a bases-loaded walk to Zachary Kourous allowed one of those trio of Lakers to reach home. The second run of the inning came courtesy of backstop John Susnik who hit a sacrifice fly into left field to make to 4-1.

Mercyhurst managed to plate two more in their half of the seventh thanks to a pair of while pitches, proving to be more than enough run support for their staff. Ben Berdine entered the game in relief in the second inning and that call was all the Laker needed from their bullpen. The junior hurler ended up pitching the rest of the way, dominating through most of his appearance and only getting stronger as the day went along in the five-run win.

Much like the first game, the second matchup between the two teams saw plenty of offense from the Lakers in the early going. After scoring one in the first thanks to an RBI single from Chris Juchno, Mercyhurst put five runs on the board in the second to help them claim a 6-2 lead. 

The second inning did not quite start the way the Lakers had hoped with each of their first two batters recording outs, but walks to three of the next four batters with a single from Christopher mixed in helped put Mercyhurst in business and make it 2-2. The big at-bat of the canto came courtesy of left fielder Luke Jackson who split the gap in left center field to help clear the bases and give Mercyhurst a 5-2 lead before coming around to score on a Mitchell Grosch double later in the frame.

Salem did not give up despite the early deficit and battled back over the course of the next couple of innings. They plated three runs in the bottom of the second before gaining a lead, 7-6, by the end of the third. From there, the Tiger hurler, Frankie Gulko, proved to be very tough to hit. Mercyhurst put together some good at-bats with several hard hit balls off of the Salem righty, but they unfortunately found leather to help the Tigers remain on top by one in the end.

Highlights

Ben Berdine led the way on the mound for Mercyhurst with 5.1 innings of work to this line, giving up just two hits while punching out six. His half a dozen strikeouts marks a new career-high for the hurler with his 5.1 innings of work being the most innings he has pitched in a single outing. He was joined in relief by John Bufford Jr. who pitched in four innings in game two, giving up just one earned run to go along with seven Ks for the most in a game so far this year. At the plate, Luke Jackson and Mitchell Grosch tied for the team-lead in hits with three apiece. Grosch saw two of his hits go for extra bases with a triple in game one followed by a double in the second. Jackson added a double to his line as well while Ranciel Ventura and Matt Christopher each recorded a two-bagger as well. 

Next Game

Mercyhurst returns to the diamond on Sunday to wrap up their weekend. The team will see Findlay for a pair of games in Salem, WV with the two set to square off beginning at 1:00 p.m.