In Saturday's PSAC Western Division at Sargent's Stadium at the Point opener, the Mountain Cats fell behind 3-0 in the first inning, but rallied and got six strong innings out of the bullpen to hold on to the 6-4 win over Mercyhurst. The Lakers came back with a 13-3 win in the nightcap to split the four-game series, two games apiece. Pitt-Johnstown, which also split two games with the Lakers on Friday, is now 9-7 overall and 5-3 in the PSAC West.
Mercyhurst struck for three runs in the top of the first off of Mountain Cat starter
Brady Walker. Troy Banks scored from third on a wild pitch, and Josh Surowiec followed with an RBI double. The Lakers then loaded the bases and Luke Baranchak drew a walk that forced home Surowiec.
Tyler Smith's sacrifice fly in the Pitt-Johnstown half of the first plated
Alex Glumac to cut it to 3-1, before the Mountain Cats took the lead with four more in the second. After
Jake Ansell drew a bases loaded walk,
Dylan Broderick followed with a two run double to right, and Smith's sacrifice fly scored Ansell to make it 5-3.
The Lakers settled for one run in the top of the fourth. Mercyhurst loaded the bases with nobody out, but Mountain Cat reliever
Raymond Watt was able to get a strikeout and a ground ball double play to limit the damage.
Pitt-Johnstown came back with one more in the bottom of the sixth on Glumac's single through the right side that scored
Tyler Treese to give the Mountain Cats a 6-4 advantage.
After Walker tossed the first inning, the Pitt-Johnstown bullpen held the Lakers to just one run over the final six innings. Freshman
Giovanni Scott allowed one run over the next two innings to earn the win and even his record at 1-1, and Watt fanned four in four scoreless innings to get his first save of the season.
Broderick and Smith each had a pair of RBI, and Gluman drove in one and scored twice to lead the Mountain Cats.
In game two, Mercyhurst built a 9-0 fifth-inning lead and went on to the 13-3 win.
An unearned run in the top of the third put Mercyhurst on top, and Baranchak's three-run homer to center in the third increased it to 4-0.
The Lakers scored five more in the fifth on back-to-back RBI singles from Surowiec and Luke Jackson, and Matthew Gibson's three-run home run.
Glumac, Ansell, and Broderick all picked-up RBI in the Pitt-Johnstown half of the fifth the cut it to 9-3, but the Lakers scored four more in the seventh.
Chase Vargo had a pinch-hit double, while Glumac had a hit and an RBI for the Mountain Cats. Pitt-Johnstown also got one RBI each from Ansell and Broderick.
Wil Fetrow slipped to 0-1 after allowing four runs (3 earned) on six hits over the first four innings. Fetrow also struck out five and walked one.
With the split, the Lakers are now 13-7 overall and 4-4 in the PSAC West.
The Mountain Cats host Indiana (PA) to begin a four-game home-and-home PSAC West series on Friday at 1 p.m. at Sargent's Stadium at the Point, before finishing the series in Indiana on Saturday.
