Box Score

JOHNSTOWN, Pa. – The Mercyhurst University baseball team was shut down by Kutztown's Brandon Shimo in the opener of the PSAC Tournament on Wednesday morning, suffering a 6-1 loss to the Golden Bears at Point Stadium in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. The Lakers, who dropped to 30-19 overall on the season, enters the losers' bracket and will have to win out the rest of the weekend to fulfill their hopes of winning the PSAC title. Kutztown improved to 32-14.

Mercyhurst will play on Thursday morning at 9:30 against the loser of California (Pa.) and West Chester.

Shimo outdueled Mercyhurst's ace, senior Ben Rawding, by allowing just four Laker hits in the nine-inning, complete-game victory. The righthander walked one and struck out one to improve to 6-2 on the season.

Meanwhile, Rawding pitched well for six innings, but the Golden Bears touched up the senior southpaw for two runs in the second and three in the third to break the game open. The Beaver Falls native went eight innings and allowed six runs on 12 hits. Five of the runs and seven of the hits Rawding allowed came in those two frames.

Rawding walked four and struck out five, dropping to 9-3 on the season. It was Rawding's seventh complete-game of the season. He dropped to 30-8 in his career, including a 25-4 mark over the last three seasons.

In the second, Kutztown's Matt Albaugh led off with a single to left field and then advanced to second when shortstop Zak Blair threw errant of first base trying to catch Albaugh napping. After a sacrifice bunt got Albaugh to third, Jon Dockins drove in the game's first run with an RBI double. Rawding struck out Travis Kreitz before allowing a two-out RBI double to Todd Rubendall to give the Golden Bears a 2-0 lead.

Kutztown picked up where it left off in the bottom of the third inning, plating three more runs to take a 5-0 advantage. The first run of the inning scored when Brandon Martinez, who led off the inning with a single and then took second on a wild pitch, crossed the dish when Brett Hauck bunted for a single and third baseman Joe Pantano's throw sailed into right field. Run-scoring singles by Joe Peters and Dockins closed out the inning.

The Lakers would get their only run of the contest in the top of the fifth inning when junior Anthony Tomasone singled home freshman Hank Morrison, who singled with one out to start the rally, cutting the deficit to 5-1.

But, the Golden Bears got the run back in the bottom of the fifth on an RBI single by Dockins.

Rawding settled down after the third inning, allowing just a run on five hits over the last five innings. But, the damage was already done as Shimo was dealing all afternoon. He limited the Lakers to just five baserunners all afternoon (four hits and one walk) and needed just 90 pitches in his complete-game effort.

Joining Morrison and Tomasone in the hit column for the Lakers were sophomores Kolin McMillen and Ryan Siegel. Dockins went 3-for-4 with three runs batted in to lead the Golden Bears on offense.

The Lakers will look to stave off elimination on Thursday morning against the loser of the California (Pa.)/West Chester contest, set to get underway at 12:30 p.m.