GWYNEDD VALLEY, PA. -- Gwynedd Mercy closed out the regular season with a doubleheader sweep of Neumann on Friday, winning game one, 6-1, and taking the second in a wild 12-8 affair on Senior Day. The Griffins have now cemented themselves as the #2 playoff seed in next week's CSAC Tournament which gets underway on Wednesday. GMercyU will face this same Neumann team, the third seed, in a first-round matchup.

Game one
Starter Mike Di Ianni struck out a season-high seven while scattering one run on five hits in a complete game victory. Shaughn Wright smacked a three-run home run in the first and Bobby Heck delivered a two-run double in the fifth.

Back-to-back singles from Nick Mulvey and Ryan Keen to start first got the Griffins in business. After a pop out, Wright hit his third homer of the season over the left field fence to help stake Di Ianni to a 3-0 lead.

In the top of the fifth, the Knights got a run on an RBI groundout to cut the Griffin lead to two. Di Ianni would get out of a spot in the inning with runners on first and third, notching his seventh K of the day for the third out. In the bottom half and with runners on the corners, Tommy Nardini singled home Dave Tatoian to get the run back. Now with the bags full, Heck pulled a ball down the line in right to score two runs, to help add some insurance.

Mulvey and Wright each had two hits apiece. Tatoian walked twice and scored a run.

Game two
Mulvey's career-high five RBI's helped the Griffins overcome a 6-3 deficit in a wild contest. The junior was officially 4-for-6. Justin Forktus tied a career-high with three runs while adding a pair of RBIs. A total of 14 different pitchers were used. Gwynedd scored four runs late in the game, each coming in the seventh and eighth innings.

Tatoian's RBI double in the third cut into a 2-0 Neumann score. The momentum carried on to the fourth, when Forktus helped GMercyU take a 3-2 lead as he scored on a double with a runner on after two errors in the outfield, the last coming on an errant throw back into the infield, in which he hustled home.

Curt Yenchik's two-run homerun in the fifth and another two-spot in the sixth put the Knights ahead, 6-3.  Now trailing 7-4 into the bottom half of the seventh, the Griffins took advantage of a bases loaded wild pitch and later a hit batsmen with the sacks full. Mulvey then delivered a big two-out single two score Forktus and Bryan Kaelin to reclaim the lead at 7-6.

After Neumann countered with an RBI single from Duncan Balara in the eighth, the Griffins again plated four runs and again Mulvey produced a two-out, two-run single to help take a four-run lead.

Liam Sullivan picked up the win in relief, getting two outs in the eighth and finishing the ninth to go to 2-0 on the year.