Lakers hit four homers, advance to semifinals

Luke Baranchak, left, and Matt Gibson, center, tip their helmets to Logan Martella-Tasick after the latter connected with a two-out two run home run in the seventh frame of the Mercyhurst Lakers 10-3 victory over California University of Pennsylvania Vulcans in the PSAC Quarterfinals. Photo by Mercyhurst University Athletics.

Jack Butler

jbutle58@lakers.mercyhurst.edu

The Mercyhurst Lakers played their first playoff game in 707 days against the California University of Pennsylvania Vulcans in the PSAC Quarterfinals. Mercyhurst finished the regular season at 26-13 (17-10) good for the second seed in the PSAC West while Cal U was right behind them at 25-15 (16-12). Both teams had stellar pitching staffs with the Lakers having a 4.52 ERA and the Vulcans with an ERA of 4.65. Thought that it would be a pitcher’s duel, but it turned out to be the complete opposite, a slugfest. Head Coach Joe Spano gave Nathan Holt the baseball in a must win game and the Junior righthander did not disappoint. Despite allowing a lone run in the first, Holt settled in nicely as he retired eight of the next ten batters, he faced from the end of the first to the end of the third.

Mercyhurst tied the game on a Luke Baranchak solo shot off of the Vulcans ace Nick Riggle in the home half of the third. Riggle got into a heap of trouble when he walked Casimer Sobaszek but was bailed out by a phenomenal diving stop by Anthony Venezia who glove flipped it to Jacob McCaskey at short, catching it with a barehand to complete the twin killer. With the game tied at one in the fourth, Justin Stewart untied the contest with a blast to right center field making it 2-1 in favor of Cal U. Holt did not give in as he retired the next two hitters in order on a strikeout and groundout, respectively. Riggle had an opportunity to silence the Laker bats in the bottom frame and grab more momentum, but Matt Gibson and company decided to come alive with a three-run rally. Riggle sent Jack Elliott to first on a walk and Troy Banks advanced him to second on a grounder to third. Then Gibson came through with a RBI single, plating Elliott to tie the game at 2. Logan Martella-Tasick bunted Gibson 90 feet to second and Baranchack drove him home with a single. Once Mercyhurst captured the lead they never looked back. Sobaszek joined the act by lining a run scoring single, making it a 4-2 ballgame.

Spano sent Holt out to start the fifth but only faced and retired one on a flyout to center. Michael Krauza relieved him for 4.2 dominate innings where he retired the first thirteen batters he faced until allowing a two out solo shot to Stewart. In his outing, Krauza struck out nine and did not walk a batter. Mercyhurst almost doubled its run total in the fifth by having a three-spot captured by Gibson’s second hit with runners in scoring position. This time it was a three-run bomb barely fair over the gigantic wall in left. It broke the game wide open as the Lakers led by a score of 7-2. Krauza retired the side in order in the sixth and so was Mercyhurst which was the first of two times that both clubs went one, two, three in the same inning.

Another two out rally occurred in the home half of the seventh that extended the Lakers lead. Dylan Brosky quickly sent down Philip Ferranti and Jack Elliott but yielded a Banks solo homer and walked Gibson to keep the inning going. The Vulcans inserted Patrick Gumto from the bullpen to end the threat who gave up a Martella-Tasick two run blast, the fourth of the game for the Lakers, which put an exclamation point on the offensive outburst. Gumto struck out Baranchack swinging to end the seventh with the damage already being done.

Krauza cruised through a one, two, three eighth and went back out to finish off the Vulcans in the ninth. Even though he allowed a homer to Stewart to make it 10-3, he struck out the side, including Colby Rockacy swinging to end the game as Mercyhurst advances to the next round of the PSAC Tournament.

The Lakers have a date with the top seeded and No. 7 ranked Seton Hill Griffins 32-4 (23-4) in the Semifinals, who carry an unbeaten home record of 21-0, for a best of three series beginning on Sunday at the SHU Baseball Complex in Greensburg, PA. First pitch is set for 12:00 PM for Game 1 and Game 2 at 3:00 PM. If necessary, there will be a winner take all Game 3 at 12:00 PM on Monday. Go to https://hurst.athletics.com/sports/baseball/schedule to watch all the games from a livestream.

Note: Overall record before parentheses. Parentheses donates conference records.