Baseball Game Preview: Laurel Spartans vs. Mercer Mustangs

The Laurel Spartans will face off against the Mercer Mustangs at 4:15 p.m. on Wednesday.

Tuesday just wasn't the day for Laurel's offense. They took a 4-0 hit to the loss column at the hands of Shenango on Tuesday. The Spartans haven't had much luck with the Wildcats recently, as the team has come up short the last eight times they've met.

Meanwhile, Mercer had already won four in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 4.8 runs) and they went ahead and made it five on Monday. They came out on top against the Blue Devils by a score of 7-3.

Lincoln Saracco made a big impact while hitting and pitching. On the mound, he pitched 3.1 innings while giving up just one earned run off three hits. The dominant performance also gave him a new career-high in strikeouts (five). He was also solid in the batter's box, going 1-for-3 with three RBI, two runs, and one double.

Saracco wasn't the only one making solid contact as four players wound up with at least one hit. One of them was Cole Fisher, who went 2-for-4 with one run and one double.

Mercer hit smart and finished the game with only two strikeouts. They easily outclassed their opponents in that department as Sharpsville struck out 12 times.

Mercer's victory was their third straight at home, which pushed their record up to 8-3. The home wins came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 8.0 runs over those games. As for Laurel, their defeat dropped their record down to 5-9.