IMMACULATA, Pa.- Looking to continue its winning momentum, the Immaculata baseball team (15-1, 11-0) remained home on Friday afternoon to host Atlantic East rival Gwynedd Mercy. After trailing in the early stages of the contest, Immaculata used a five-run eighth inning to cruise to a 16-8 victory over Gwynedd Mercy on Friday afternoon.
 
Ray Lutick got the start on the mound for Immaculata lasted four innings surrendering three runs on four hits and one walk while striking out five.
 
In the first inning, Gwynedd Mercy struck first as the Griffins scored their first run of the contest on a single into center field before running into a pair of outs to send the game to the home half of the first. In the home half, Immaculata answered as Josh Crowding delivered a sac fly to center, which scored Joey Sacco who had worked a walk to leadoff the inning, thus, evening the score at 1-1.
 
In the bottom of the second, Immaculata claimed the lead with a two-out RBI single from Frank Margiotta to score RJ Mason and give Immaculata a 2-1 lead. Immaculata extended its lead as Giancarlo Palmieri scampered home on a wild pitch to give the Macs a 3-1 lead. Josh Crowding followed this up with a bases loaded walk to score Margiotta and further extend the Macs lead heading to the third.
In the top of the fourth, Gwynedd Mercy scored a pair of runs to trim the deficit to 4-3 before Lutick tight-roped out of danger with a pair of strikeouts to end the inning and leave the bases loaded with Griffins at the end of the fourth inning.
 
In the fifth inning, Alex Singer entered in relief of Lutick and surrendered three runs while registering just one out before being relieved by Chris Huyette who got the final two outs of the fifth.
 
In the bottom of the fifth, Crowding and Fontanillas each worked walks to begin the inning, which closed the book on Gwynedd Mercy starter Pat Hasson. Following a successful sac bunt from Wright, Immaculata loaded the bases after an intentional walk of Payton before Mason drove home a pair with an RBI single to right to even the score at 6-6. Gwynedd Mercy was able to work out of the inning without allowing any further damage to keep the game locked at 6-6 heading to the sixth.
 
For Gwynedd Mercy, Hasson's final line was six runs (five earned) with three hits, eight walks, and three strikeouts over the course of four innings of work.
 
Huyette returned for the sixth inning and hit the first batter of the inning, which would be his final batter as Max Cannon (1-0) entered in relief with one on and no outs in the top of the sixth. In relief, Cannon struck out his first batter before his batterymate, Crowding cut down a runner trying to steal for a pair of quick outs. Cannon got the final batter of the inning to pop out to second base, to keep the Griffins off the scoreboard.
 
In the home half of the sixth, Immaculata retook the lead following an error by the Griffins third baseman, which allowed both Sacco and Kmiec who had reached on a single and double, respectively earlier in the inning to score. Crowding, who was standing on second as a result of the error came around to score moments later as Wright connected on a two-run home run down the left field line to give Immaculata a 10-6 lead heading to the seventh inning.
 
In the top of the seventh, Gwynedd Mercy got one run and threatened for more but Cannon was able to limit the damage to just one run as Immaculata led 10-7 heading into the home half of the seventh. In the bottom of the seventh, Immaculata got its run back courtesy of an RBI sac fly from Frank Margiotta, which scored Mason and gave the Macs an 11-7 lead into the eighth inning.
 
In the eighth, Immaculata further extended is lead making the score 12-7 as Mason delivered a sac fly, which scored Fontanillas. Margiotta delivered a two-RBI single to center to extend the lead to 14-7. Justin Klemick, who had pinch run for Palmieri earlier in the inning made the score 15-7 when he scored on a balk to give the Macs a commanding lead. Immaculata further extended its lead with an RBI single from Kmiec, which scored Margiotta to give the Macs a 16-7 lead.
 
In the ninth, Cannon surrendered a leadoff hit, which would end his afternoon as Stephen DiBatista entered to get the final three outs. Gwynedd Mercy was able to push one more run across in the ninth to make the score 16-8 but it was not enough to overcome the nine-run deficit.
 
Cannon earned his first victory of the season on the mound for Immaculata as he tossed three innings surrendering four hits and two runs while walking one and striking out four to improve to 1-0 on the year. For Gwynedd Mercy, Billy Collins took the loss as he gave up five unearned runs on five hits over his three innings of work for his second defeat of the year.
 
Immaculata will be back in action tomorrow at Gwynedd Mercy with game one of the doubleheader set to begin at 10:45 a.m.