Butler, Pa. - Mercyhurst baseball went on the road Sunday afternoon to complete their four game set with Clarion, coming out on top in the pair of games to help them grab the sweep. The Lakers turned in a strong pitching performance in game one with the team garnering their third-straight shutout in a 5-0 win before seeing some more life from the bats in their 8-5 win in game two.
How it Happened
Mercyhurst got on the board early in game one and established a 3-0 lead by the end of the third, giving their pitching staff more than enough insurance to grab the win. Matt Christopher led the game off with a triple to right center with Zachary Kourous to follow, bringing the Laker shortstop in on a sacrifice fly. In the second, some miscues from Clarion's defense allowed Mercyhurst to make it a 2-0 lead before an RBI single from Ranciel Ventura in third made it a three-run cushion.
Aiden Kelly took the ball for the Lakers with the righty able to go out and command the game from the word go with Clarion failing to have a base runner in the first two frames. They did manage to get their first hit in the third, but Kelly stayed cool on the mound and kept his counterpart from stringing anything together.Â
After a few empty frames at the plate, Mercyhurst added on in their half of the sixth with a home run off the bat of Kourous with him and Christopher coming around to score, making it 5-0. The Golden Eagles tried to break the funk in their half of the sixth with the team able to get two runners aboard thanks to a a hit and a walk, but no one could make it past second as Kelly continued to silence his opponent on his way to the complete game shutout.
Game two saw Clarion break through on offense with the team scoring four run in the first two innings of play. Mercyhurst managed to score one in that time as a sacrifice fly from Jayden Walker helped plate one in the second. From there, a home run from Chris Juchno allowed the Lakers to pull within one, 4-3, as the Mercyhurst right fielder sent one over the right field wall in the third.
The sixth inning is where Mercyhurst made their push as Mitchell Grosch got in on the long ball action for Mercyhurst in the frame as the team's DH went opposite field to right to help the Lakers claim a lead they would never relinquish, 5-4. Christopher helped add one more to the team's total with a single to left before Kourous plated both Christopher and Joe Trivisonno to make it 8-5. The Golden Eagles tried to fight back as they managed to plate one more in the bottom of the seventh, but that was all they could muster in the three-run decision.
Highlights
The weekend series gave the Lakers one of their stronger pitching performances in conference play in recent history as the five runs allowed over the course of the four games are the fewest since the five they gave up against Gannon a season ago. The team saw two complete game shutouts be tossed as both Corbin Foy and Aiden Kelly ended up going the distance. Kelly threw seven innings while giving up just three hits with six Ks to his ledger to lead the way on the day on the bump for the Lakers. At the plate, Mitchell Grosch led the way with four hits to his line with both a double and a home run in that mix, driving in two and scoring twice himself.
Next Game
Mercyhurst heads to Ashland for a mid-week matchup this upcoming Tuesday, April 9th, with the Eagles. They then return to Erie for four games against Gannon with the first two of those coming across town on Friday, April 12th, before coming back home the following day with first pitch set for 1:00 p.m.
