The Misericordia baseball took both games of a doubleheader, Saturday afternoon at Tambur Field, to complete the three-game series sweep. The Cougars rode their bats to a 17-1 win in game one before taking game two, 7-4.
The Cougars improve to 15-6 overall and 7-2 in the MAC Freedom as the Eagles fall to 6-14 and 1-8 in the conference.
Sean Lyons and Tyler Holzapfel each racked up four RBI on a combined five hits. Jonathan Juri came off the bench to contribute a hit and two runs batted in. Conor Smith, Scott Carton and Santo Guinta all had multiple hits in the win as well.
Drake Koch struck out seven in five innings while allowing no earned runs to improve to 2-0 on the season.
Lyons got the Cougars on the board in the first with a two-RBI double to center field. After Eastern got a run back in the second, Misericordia broke the game open in the bottom of the second, sending nine batters to the plate to score five runs. Kenny Jarema hit an RBI single before Holzapfel and Lyons each hit two-RBI doubles.
After scoring a run in the fourth on a groundout, the Cougars put another five spot on the board in the sixth. Holzapfel hit a single with the bases loaded to knock in two runs before two RBI singles by Scott Carton and Smith was sandwiched around a run-scoring passed ball.
MU added four more runs in the sixth on a two-run double by Juri and a two-run dropped fly ball by the Eagle left fielder.
In game two, Elliot Forde threw 6.1 innings, struck out five and allowed three earned runs to earn the win and improve to 3-0.
Parker Abate and Holzapfel each tallied two runs batted in while Lyons and Sean Boylan contributed with two hits and an RBI apiece.
The Eagles scored an unearned run in the top of the first before the Cougars tied it back up in the bottom half on an RBI groundout to second base by Holzapfel.
Boylan gave the Cougars the lead in the second with a bullet back up the middle, scoring Adam Concadoro, who had reached on an error earlier in the inning.
MU put up their third five-run inning of the day in the fourth inning to create some separation. Abate hit a two-run double to right center field before Holzapfel singled to right to score another run. Abate scored when he stole home after Holzapfel purposely got in a rundown. Holzapfel came around to score on a single by Lyons to provide the Cougars' seventh run.
Forde attempted to go the distance on the mound, but found himself in trouble in the seventh inning. With runners on first and third and three runs already in, Kyle Melahn came in for the save. Kyle Dadarrio was caught stealing second for the second out before Guinta made a nice play to end the game, picking up a swinging bunt, turning and firing to first base for the final out.
The Cougars are back in action tomorrow at Tambur Field when they host King's for a doubleheader beginning at 1:00.
