Erie, Pa. - Mercyhurst baseball is set for another week with the team scheduled to play six games. The Lakers head for Painesville, Oh. to take on the Storm of Lake Erie on Tuesday, April 23rd, for a doubleheader before returning to PSAC play this weekend with a four game set with California (Pa.). Mercyhurst is scheduled to host the Vulcans on Saturday, April 27th, with that serving as the team's senior day while first pitch is set for 1:00 p.m.

A Look Back

Mercyhurst is 17-15 on the season with a make of 14-6 in the PSAC West, good enough to be tied for first in the PSAC West. The team did not quite start the way they wanted to this year, but have been able turn things around since the middle of March when conference play began. They have been playing some of their best baseball here of late with eight wins in their last 10 tries in conference play and are 7-3 in their last 10 games overall.

Rolling with Rafalski

Laker pitcher Ryan Rafalski pitched a game last time out he won't soon forget as he ended up throwing the first no-hitter in program history since the 2019 season. The Mercyhurst righty ended up going the distance over seven innings while striking out two batters, using double plays in both the sixth and seventh innings on the infield to help him complete the feat and make history. On the season, Rafalski holds an ERA of 1.73 across 26.0 innings of work with a team-best 4-0 record. The native of Warren, Pa. has done very well at limiting base runners to this point in the season as hitters are batting .099 against him as he's given up just five hits and one earned run over his last 24 innings of work to make him one of the hotter arms in the country right now.

Scouting the Storm

Lake Erie is 17-20 to this point in the season with a 9-13 mark in the GMAC, dropping their last two games. The Storm have not been as good at home as they would like to be to this point as they own a 4-6 record inside their friendly confines, giving way to potentially a pair of wins for the Lakers. The team's top bat has been Mitchel Szymczak who is hitting .350 for the year with an OPS of .941 with a team-high in doubles (12) and RBIs (26) while walking more times than he has struck out. 

Scouting California (Pa.)

The Vulcans have had a strong season up to this point with a 24-14 overall record while going 10-10 in the PSAC, being swept by IUP in their most recent series. The offense for the Vulcans has been solid to this point with seven games to their ledger in which they have scored 10 or more runs with a season-high of 18 coming in game two of the campaign in a 16-run win over Wheeling on February 20th. The team has a trio of hitters with an OPS above .900 with Payton Conte's mark of 1.196 being the best, hitting for a .4564/.529/.667 triple slash line. He has added four doubles, two triples, and three home runs to his line while driving in 21, making him one of the better hitters in the conference this season.

Next Game

The team finishes out the April portion of their schedule on Tuesday, April 30th, when they welcome Shepherd to town for a pair of games before playing four in May to end the regular season. It will be IUP that the team sees in the new month with the Crimson Hawks coming to town for two games on Thursday, May 2nd, before closing things out the following day at 1:00 p.m.