Box Score l PSAC Tournament website

Wednesday results
Slippery Rock 9, West Chester 8
ESU 18, Mercyhurst 11
Seton Hill 11, Shippensburg 5
Millersville 8, California 0

Thursday
9:30am - West Chester vs. Mercyhurst
12:30pm - Shippensburg vs. California
3:30pm - ESU vs. Slippery Rock
6:30pm - Seton Hill vs. Millersville

BUTLER, Pa. - East Stroudsburg University erupted for 11 runs in the first three innings in posting an 18-11 win vs. Mercyhurst, the top seed in the PSAC West, in the first round of the 2015 PSAC Baseball Tournament on Wednesday afternoon at Kelly Automotive Park.

ESU (29-17), the PSAC East's No. 4 seed, had 21 hits and six walks against a Mercyhurst (32-7) pitching staff that led the PSAC and ranked 12th in Division II in ERA (3.08) entering the tournament. The Lakers are ranked No. 9 by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper and No. 11 by the NCBWA in this week's DII national polls.

The Warriors scored seven runs and sent 11 batters to the plate in the first inning, knocking out Cam Knott, a second team All-PSAC West selection, after the first time through the order.

ESU led 18-4 through seven innings before Mercyhurst scored six runs in the eighth and one in the ninth to set the final margin.

The Warriors advance to play Slippery Rock in the winners bracket on Thursday at 3:30 p.m. The Rock advanced with a 9-8 win vs. West Chester in the first game on Wednesday.

ESU is in the PSAC Tournament for the fourth time in six seasons and won the 2013 title, its first in 42 years.

ESU's 18 runs are tied for the most in the PSAC Tournament since 2003, and the 29 combined runs are the second-most since that date.

The Warriors also set a program record for runs in a postseason game, surpassing a 17-3 win vs. Concord in the NCAA DII Tournament in 2011.

Redshirt junior Matt Festa (7-4) gave the Warriors an impressive start on the mound, blanking Mercyhurst for the first three frames and throwing 7.0 innings total, allowing four runs on 11 hits. Festa struck out seven and walked two. His seven wins are tied for second-most in school history.

Seven Warriors had multi-hit games, including redshirt junior OF Matt Walewski, who was 4-for-4 with two doubles, four RBI, three runs and a walk.

Walewski and freshman catcher Steven Zimmerman (3-for-3, RBI, run, two walks) both reached in all five of their plate appearances in the No. 7 and No. 9 spots in the order, respectively.

ESU hit two home runs, both solo shots. Sophomore OF Ian Allen, an All-PSAC East second team selection, homered in the second inning, and redshirt sophomore SS Conner Crookham went deep in the sixth to make the score 17-3.

The Warriors hit .334 with a .425 on-base percentage, 11th nationally, in the regular season while averaging 7.18 runs per game, second-most in program history - but couldn't have foretold Wednesday's outburst against the top pitching staff in the PSAC.

Redshirt sophomore 2B Jay Young was 2-for-6 with a run in the leadoff spot, redshirt sophomore CF Casey Saverio went 2-for-5 with a walk and three runs in the No. 2 hole and Crookham was 3-for-6 with three RBI and four runs in the No. 3 spot.

Junior 1B Dylan Tamecki, first team All-PSAC East, was 2-for-4 with two RBI, two runs and two walks batting cleanup.

Redshirt junior 3B Drew Hercik was 3-for-6 with two RBI, coming on a key single in the first inning, and two runs hitting sixth, with Walewski (4-4, walk), freshman OF Christian Rishel (1-for-6) and Zimmerman (3-3, 2 walks) in the bottom three spots.

Knott got just one out in the first inning as ESU jumped on the board early. Young singled, Saverio walked, Crookham reached on an error and Tamecki drew a bases loaded walk to open the game. After a strikeout, Hercik delivered a two-RBI single, Walewski an RBI single and Rishel an RBI double to make it 5-0.

Zimmerman drew a walk, ending Knott's day, and ESU scored the final two runs of the inning on a throwing error to make it 7-0 after one-half inning.

Festa shut down Mercyhurst's offense in the first three innings, while Allen hit a solo homer for an 8-0 lead in the second. The Warriors added three more runs on four hits in the third - singles by Zimmerman, Saverio, Crookham (RBI) and Tamecki (RBI), followed by a sacrifice fly by Allen.

Mercyhurst got on the board with two runs in the fourth, but ESU plated five more in the top of the fifth, stringing together six hits.

Walewski's three-run double was the big blow in the inning as the Warriors led, 16-2, going to the bottom of the fifth.

Crookham homered in the sixth, and Zimmerman had a two-out RBI single to plate Walewski in the seventh.

Seven of Mercyhurst's 19 hits came in the eighth inning, when the Lakers scored six runs to make it 18-10.


GAME NOTES
* ESU posted its first postseason win vs. Mercyhurst and was previously 0-4 against the Lakers. Mercyhurst topped ESU in the first round in 2011 and the second round in 2010, and also dealt the Warriors their only two losses in the 2011 NCAA DII Atlantic Region, where ESU placed third in the region.

* ESU's 29 wins are the 3rd-most in school history:
34 - 2013
32 - 2009
29 - 2015


PSAC Tournament (since 2003), most runs
18 - ESU (18-11) vs. Mercyhurst, 2015 (1st round)
18 - Slippery Rock (18-9) vs. Mansfield, 2010 (2nd round elimination game)
18 - Shippensburg (18-6) vs. California, 2007 (championship game)
18 - California (18-12) vs. Kutztown, 2004 (championship game)

PSAC Tournament (since 2003), most combined runs
30 - California (18) vs. Kutztown (12), 2004 (championship game)
29 - ESU (18) vs. Mercyhurst (11), 2015 (1st round)