SWOYERSVILLE, Pa.—Misericordia University handed The University of Scranton baseball team its first shutout of the season, 9-0, Wednesday afternoon at Roosevelt Field.

Winning pitcher Pete Doggett (Clarks Summit, Pa./Abington Heights) struck out six and scattered five hits over six innings, then gave way to relievers Brandon Barber (Dover, Del./Polytech), Ron Guido (Hillsborough, NJ/Hillsborough), and Matt Karabin (Port Reading, NJ/St. Joseph), who held the Royals to just one hit the rest of the way.  

With the win, the Cougars improved to 14-2, while the Royals fell to 9-6.

Misercordia broke open a close game by taking advantage of two Scranton errors to push five runs across the plate in the fourth inning.  Senior Bubba Jasinski (Lyndhurst, NJ/Lyndhurst) delivered the big blow, driving in two runs with a single, and junior Kenny Durling (Kingston, Pa./Wyoming Valley West) came through prior to Jasinski's single with a sacrifice fly to score another run.  

Durling finished with two hits and two RBI and sophomore Ryan Cacchioli (Hicksville, NY/St. Anthony's) scored twice and drove in two runs.

Scranton was led by sophomore Michael Gaeta (Cranford, NJ/Cranford) with two hits and freshman Michael Umerich (Clarks Summit, Pa./Abington Heights), juniors Tim LeCompte (Philadelphia, Pa./Roman Catholic) and Michael Amaturo (Rye, NY/Rye), and senior Sean Butler (Dickson City, Pa./Scranton) finished with one apiece.

Gaeta's two hits today raised his batting average to .396.

The Royals will open a three-game Landmark Conference series against the Merchant Marine Academy this Saturday, March 24, with a 7-inning doubleheader at Connell Park beginning at 1:00 p.m.