LOCK HAVEN – Brady Mengel and Eric Senior hit the first home runs of the season for the Mansfield University baseball team, but the Mountaineers were unable to overpower Lock Haven in the first two games of the series at Watkins Field on Saturday afternoon.
 
In the first game of the afternoon, Lock Haven (9-14-1, 3-7 PSAC East) put a three-spot on the board in the second inning and shut the Mountaineers out over seven innings of two-hit ball. Liam McArthur came into Saturday sitting seventh in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference rankings with a .400 batting average. The senior collected two hits and drove in a run during Game One.
 
Josh Kulina and Dom Lopez recorded the only MU hits while Camren Ney worked both of the team's walks.
 
From the mound, Evan McAndrew went the distance in the loss.
 
GAME 2
In the first inning, Lock Haven was again able to get on the board first. Following that, Dom Lopez singled to centerfield in the top of the second.  After a sluggish start to the season, Lopez has now collected nine hits in his last 20 conference at-bats, and has raised his batting average over 100 points.
 
Junior Brady Mengel followed Lopez with the Mountaineers first home run of the 2019 season.  On the seventh pitch of his at-bat, Mengel crushed it over the left field fence to tie the game.
 
Both teams were scoreless for the next three frames before the Mounties came up with another home run. This time, Eric Senior connected in the sixth inning to give Mansfield their first lead of the series.
 
LHU responded in the bottom of the inning when Isaac Porter doubled with runners on second and third to put the Bald Eagles up 4-3. Kulina singled in MU's last trips to the plate, but the Mounties were unable to string together any other offensive production.
 
Joseph DePerno pitched five innings and Hunter DePrimo threw the rest for Mansfield. All seven of the Mounties hits in Game Two were recorded by different players. Tyler Guidos, Camren Ney, and Jake Haas each notched singles.
 
The wins snap Lock Haven's seven-game losing streak.  The teams travel to Mansfield to play the remaining two games at Shaute Field on Sunday, April 7^th. The contests will begin at 1 p.m. and live coverage will be available at GoMounties.com and through the official @MUMounties social media platforms. Coverage is presented by Drew Patrick and Bob Michaels and is made possible by Visit Potter-Tioga.