LOCK HAVEN, Pa. - The Mansfield Mountaineers baseball team (14-26, 7-19 PSAC East) began their four-game series with the Lock Haven Bald Eagles (8-31, 5-21 PSAC East) on Friday afternoon at Watkins Field. 

GAME 1

Ryan Sekulski singled to short to set up the Mountaineers in the top of the first. Cole Serfass followed with a single of his own to put runners on first and second with one out. 

Jacob Houtz shot a double down the left-field line to score Sekulski and give the Mounties a 1-0 lead.

Ryan Verbonitz hit a sacrifice fly to score Serfass and put Mansfield ahead by two.

In the top of the second, the Mounties added a third thanks to an error by the Bald Eagle defense that allowed Brett Stewart to score. 

Lock Haven utilized a seven-run second inning to take a four-run lead. Lock Haven strung together five hits in the inning to push their runs across.

Trailing 7-3 entering the third Mansfield began to chip away. The Mountaineers picked up two unearned runs in the inning to cut the deficit to two.

Lock Haven added another two runs in the bottom of the fourth to reestablish their four-run advantage, making the score 9-5.

Mansfield once again scored two runs in the top of the fifth with a Jeffrey Coakley RBI and a throwing error by LHU's catcher allowing Houtz to score.

The Bald Eagles pushed their lead to 11-7 with two more runs in the bottom of the sixth.

The Mountaineers went down 1,2,3 in the seventh and dropped game one 11-7. 

GAME 2

Mansfield jumped on Lock Haven early in game two scoring in the top of the first when Zachary Shertzer scored off of a Houtz single to left-center.

Shertzer was involved in the scoring again, this time in the second after he drove in Shay Gustafson with a single to right field. 

Coakley brought home another in the top of the fourth with an RBI single back up the middle, extending the Mountaineer lead to 3-0. 

Mountie's game two starter, Tyler Swineford cruised through the first three innings allowing just one hit on under 40 pitches.

Swineford continued to deal, holding the Bald Eagles to just three hits through five innings.

Mansfield extended their lead to 4-0 in the top of the sixth with a Sekulski sacrifice fly.

Ryan Scott scored Shertzer with an RBI double down the left-field line in the top of the seventh to put the Mountaineers up by five. 

The Mountaineers took game two by a final score of 5-0. Swineford's complete game earned his third win of the season.

Swineford finished his day with 7.0 innings pitched, no runs on four hits, and struck out five batters.

UP NEXT:

Mansfield returns home to close out the weekend series against Lock Haven with Senior Day on Saturday, April 27. The Senior Day celebration will begin around 12:30 p.m. with the first pitch to follow from Joseph Shaute Field.