May 10, 2007

Box Score

MIDLAND, Mich. - Mercyhurst had not beaten top seeded Ashland in four tries during the regular season, but the Lakers, seeded fourth, turned the tables on the Eagles with a 10-8 win at Gerace Stadium in the first round of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) Championships.

In the game, David Lough's sixth inning single tied him for the Mercyhurst single season hit record with 74 hits (Ryan Nietupski, Ben Wiand both in 2000).

Mercyhurst opened the game strong, jumping out to a 7-0 lead after the top of the third. A sacrifice fly by David Lough put the Lakers ahead 1-0 in the first before the offense added two more in the second. Todd Schlenkerman hit Jamie Walczak with the bases loaded to score the first run in the second, and Lough added his second sac fly in as many innings.

In the top of the third, Joe Luli walked and John Blike doubled to left center to put runners on second and third. Back-to-back singles by Sean Weyant and Adam Gray made it 5-0, and a two-run single by Trey Bennett capped the scoring in the inning.

Ashland got one back in the bottom of the inning when Casey Jirsa and Jacob Petkac each doubled.

The score remained 7-1 until the Eagles put together a four-run fifth, powered by a Josh Davidson three-run homer.

Walczak picked up his second RBI with a single in the seventh that made it 8-5 after seven innings.

A pinch hit, two run double by Quentin Eberhardt made it a one-run game in the eighth. After James Ludwig struck out Tyson Rowland, the Lakers put Steve Grife into the game. With runners on the corners, he struck out Jirsa to end the rally.

Weyant singled to lead off the Mercyhurst half of the ninth and scored on a Dan Bertolini triple. Bennett added a sacrifice fly to make it 10-7 heading to the bottom of the ninth.

With two outs in the bottom of the inning, Ashland got another big pinch double, this one from Eric Zattlin, to make it a 10-8 ballgame. Grife then struck out Jeff Foltz to end the game.

Brian Chad improved to 4-3 on the year. He pitched the first five innings and allowed five runs on six hits and two walks. He struck out four.

Grife picked up his first save of the year with 1.1 innings of relief. The run he gave up with two outs in the ninth broke a string of 20 consecutive scoreless innings.

Weyant went 3-for-4 with four runs scored for the Lakers. Walczak also had three hits for Mercyhurst. Gray was 2-for-2 with two runs scored. Bennett drove in three during his 3-for-5 effort. Lough drove in a pair of runs, but was 1-for-4 despite hitting three balls to the warning track.

Schlenkerman fell to 7-3 for the Eagles. He lasted only two innings, allowing five runs on four hits and three walks. Matt Schultz allowed the other five Mercyhurst runs in 6.1 innings of relief.

Jirsa and Petkac had two hits apiece for Ashland.

In the other first round game of the double-elimination tournament, Grand Valley State, the two-seed, scored in the bottom of the 10th inning to break a 2-2 tie and advance to face Mercyhurst.

Mercyhurst and Grand Valley State will meet at 10 a.m. in the winner's bracket, with Saginaw Valley State and Ashland following with an elimination game at 1:00 p.m. The winner of the SVSU/Ashland contest will play the loser of the Mercyhurst/GVSU contest at 4:00 p.m.