Baseball Preview Notes: Malone Meets Mercyhurst in Non-Conference Matchup

Brenden Wells is hitting .494 over his last 23 games

The Malone University baseball team will travel to Erie, Pennsylvania to take on NCAA DII #22 Mercyhurst University in a single non-conference nine-inning game on Tuesday, April 26th. The game time has been pushed from its original 1:00 pm start to now a 2:30 pm first pitch. Tuesday's meeting will complete a home-and-home series as the Lakers previously topped Malone 10-3 on March 22nd.

Live Stats: http://www.sidearmstats.com/hurst/baseball/
Records: Malone (23-16) | Mercyhurst (32-10)
Rosters: Malone | Mercyhurst
Statistics: Malone | Mercyhurst
All Time Record: Including this season's previous matchup, Malone is 0-3 all-time against Mercyhurst

Malone Notes:

The Pioneers are coming off of a 5-1 week that included three walk-offs in a four-game weekend sweep of Tiffin
First baseman Ryan Sarbaugh, who was involved in some capacity in all three walk-offs, hit .429 (6-for-14) last week with three doubles and four RBI
Rightfielder Brenden Wells (5 HR, 36 RBI) continues to punish the baseball...an 11-for-24 (.458) week raised his average to .409 on the season, placing him 4th in the conference
Catcher Matt Davis (.388, 6 HR, 31 RBI) went deep twice on Sunday and now ranks in the top-10 in the GLIAC in homers, average, and on-base percentage (.466)
Austin Pachan (.267, 3 HR, 20 RBI) is coming off of a three-hit game that included a walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth against Tiffin
Despite some recent struggles, Keanan Locke (.374, 6 HR, 29 RBI) and Jon Crank (.313, 10 HR, 36 RBI) remain catalysts in the top third of the Malone lineup
The Malone pitching staff has seen vast improvements over the last several weeks...in 16 games since allowing 17 earned runs to Seton Hill on April 6th, the Pioneers collectively carry a 3.89 ERA

Mercyhurst Notes:

The nationally-ranked Lakers are 17-2 at home this season and have not lost a non-conference home game since 2010
Mercyhurst's pitching staff owns the 13th best ERA (3.19) in NCAA DII... the Lakers are 1st in shutouts (8) and K/9IP (11.4), 2nd in hits/9IP (6.70), and 4th in WHIP (1.14)...defensively, they are 7th in the country in team fielding percentage (.973)
Offensively, the Lakers are 14th in the country in team batting average (.339)...eight regular starters are hitting over .300
Among those eight are Hank Morrison (.429, 5 HR, 37 RBI), Austin Alonge (.406, 4 HR, 25 RBI), and Cameron Balego (.381, 4 HR, 29 RBI)...Chris Gonzalez (.341) leads the team with eight homers and 46 RBI

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Players Mentioned

#20 Jon Crank: 3B; 5' 11"; Senior; S-R

#13 Matt Davis: C; 6' 4"; Senior; R-R

#27 Keanan Locke: OF; 5' 11"; Junior; R-R

#5 Austin Pachan: 2B/OF; 5' 10"; Senior; R-R

#40 Ryan Sarbaugh: 1B; 6' 1"; Junior; L-L

#22 Brenden Wells: OF; 5' 8"; Junior; R-R

Players Mentioned

#20 Jon Crank
: 5' 11"; Senior; S-R
: 3B

#13 Matt Davis
: 6' 4"; Senior; R-R
: C

#27 Keanan Locke
: 5' 11"; Junior; R-R
: OF

#5 Austin Pachan
: 5' 10"; Senior; R-R
: 2B/OF

#40 Ryan Sarbaugh
: 6' 1"; Junior; L-L
: 1B

#22 Brenden Wells
: 5' 8"; Junior; R-R
: OF