Erie, Pa. - Mercyhurst baseball plays four more PSAC games this upcoming weekend with the team seeing Pitt-Johnstown. The Lakers first go on the road to see their conference for on Friday, April 19th, for a pair of games before coming home the following day to round out the series with a doubleheader beginning at 1:00 p.m.
Where They Stand
The Lakers currently sit atop the PSAC West with an overall record of 14-14 while going 11-5 in the PSAC to this point. They are followed by a trio of teams in California (Pa.), Indiana (Pa.), and Slippery Rock who are each 10-6 while Seton Hill rounds out the top three with a 9-7 mark to date. In the East, East Stroudsburg is 18-2 for first with Millersville close behind at 17-3 while West Chester is 15-5 for third.
Laker Leaders
Mitchell Grosch has been carrying the big stick for the Lakers to this point in the season as he leads the team in BA (.424), OBP (.509), SLG, (.652), OPS (1.161) hits, (39), extra base hits (12), and total bases (60). He is followed by Zachary Kourous who is hitting for a .340/.393/.550 triple slash line while tying for the team lead in home runs with four alongside Grosch, Chris Juchno, and John Susnik to go along with his team-high 11 stolen bases. On the mound, Aiden Kelly has the lowest ERA among pitchers with 20 or more innings at 2.25. He is followed by Corbin Foy who owns a 2.43 mark on the mound to go along with a team-high 49 Ks and a .144 batting average against, the lowest mark in the conference.
Hot Bats
The Lakers have won 10 of their last 14 games with offense playing a large role over the course of that time. The team has scored 92 runs over that stretch for an average of 6.6 runs per game, scoring seven or more runs on nine occasions including each of their last sic games. On the year, the team is batting .290 with a .402 OBP and a .448 SLG with 77 extra base hits with each of those numbers climbing significantly over their recent stretch.
Scouting Pitt-Johnstown
UPJ comes into the weekend series 14-22 on the year while going 4-12 in the PSAC West. In their last time out, they managed to defeat Lock Haven 10-5 which helped them stop a nine-game losing skid in which they were outscored 80-44. Pitching has been a struggle to this point as the Mountain Cats carry an ERA of 6.22 into the contest while opponents are hitting .293 against them, making way for another potentially explosive weekend at the plate for the Lakers. The team's offense has been lead by Justin Tucovski who is hitting for a team-best .924 OPS with 16 extra base hits and 30 RBIs to his line while adding six steals as well.
Next Game
Mercyhurst plays a pair of non conference contests next week on the road on Tuesday, April 23rd, when they go to see Lake Erie before returning to PSAC play for the weekend. The team goes to California, Pa. to see the Vulcans on the 26th starting at 1:00 p.m. before coming home to host the Vulcans on the 27th for the Laker's senior day.
