Box Score 1 | Box Score 2
Fourteenth-ranked Mercyhurst earned an 8-1 win in Friday's PSAC Western Division opener in Erie, before completing the sweep with a 3-2 walk-off victory in game two.  Pitt-Johnstown slipped to 4-24 overall and 4-10 in conference-play.
 
In game one, Mercyhurst built a 7-0 lead after four innings, before the Mountain Cats got on the board in the fifth when Mike Palkovitz doubled home Ernesto Rizzitano.  However, the Lakers added one more run in the bottom of fifth and went on the 8-1 victory.
 
Rizzitano went 2-for-4, while Palkovitz doubled and drove in Pitt-Johnstown's lone run.  Luke Williams tripled, and Dillon Boyer and Jake Stern added base hits for the Mountain Cats.
 
Nate Pope pitched the first five innings and allowed eight runs on 11 hits to fall to 1-6.  Pope also struck out seven and walked four.  Tyler Black fanned two in one scoreless inning in relief of Pope.
 
Autin Alonge belted a two-run homer and Angel Martinez had two hits and drove in two to lead Mercyhurst.
 
Colin McKee improved to 5-0 after holding Pitt-Johnstown to just one run on six hits over the first six innings.
 
In the nightcap, Mercyhurst erased a 2-0 deficit in the sixth, before earning a 3-2 walk-off win with an unearned run in the bottom of the seventh.
 
Pitt-Johnstown opened-up a 2-0 lead win single runs the fourth and sixth innings.  Nate Negri's double chased home Boyer to make it 1-0 in the fourth, before another run-producing base hit from Palkovitz gave the Mountain Cats the 2-0 lead.
 
However, the Lakers knotted it in their half of the sixth on Giancarlo Saia's two-out, two-run homer over the center field fence off of Brantley Rice.
 
Mercyhurst then added an unearned run in the seventh to walk-off with the one-run win.  J Marinelli drew a two-out.  Pinch Runner C Fantaskey then advanced to third on a Martinez hit through the right side, then scored the game-winner on a fielding error by Pitt-Johnstown shortstop Lino Bravo.
 
Pitt-Johnstown was held to just three hits, Negri's RBI double, and singles from Rizzitano and Palkovitz.
 
Rice was the tough-luck loser and fell to 0-3.  Rice allowed three runs (2 earned) and scattered five hits in 6.2 innings of work.  He also struck out five and walked two.
 
With the sweep, the Lakers improved to 22-1 and 13-1 in the PSAC West.
 
The Mountain Cats will wrap-up the PSAC Western Division series against Mercyhurst on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Point Stadium, before traveling to Shippensburg for a non-conference game on Tuesday.