Colin McKee lit the flame. Then Mercyhurst's bats caught fire.

The result was a runaaway 11-2 victory for the Lakers that eliminated Slippery Rock University from the PSAC Baseball Tournament Friday morning at Kelly Automotive Park.

McKee, a sophomore right-hander and Butler graduate, struck out the side in the top of the first inning and watched his teammates score four runs in the bottom of the frame.

“From that point, we just seemed to get rolling and never stopped,” McKee said.

And how.

McKee wound up striking out 12, allowed no walks and scattered six hits in a route-going effort. He threw 86 of his 121 pitches for strikes.

“He gave us exactly what we needed,” Mercyhurst coach Joe Spano said, his team fighting through the loser's bracket. “Colin seemed to get stronger as the game went on and I didn't want to have to go to my bullpen in this game.

“We do pay attention to pitch count and I was going to limit him to 120. He was at 105 through eight innings, looked at me and said 'I want the ball' for the ninth.”

McKee knew what to do with it. He struck out the side to polish off the win.

How dominant was McKee? Slippery Rock's first three hitters in the lineup — Jake Nogalo, Ty Walters and Adam Urbania — hit .388, .367 and .427, respectively, this season, combining for 28 homers, 58 doubles and 130 RBI.

They went 0-for-12 Friday and struck out eight times.

“I struck out Urbania in the ninth with a changeup,” McKee said. “I hadn't shown him that pitch all day. He probably thought I didn't have it.

“That guy is a tremendous hitter, but I think I surprised him with that pitch.”

Urbania's 0-for-4 snapped his 34-game hitting streak, the longest active streak in all of NCAA Division II baseball this year.

“Colin came up with a great outing for them,” SRU coach Jeff Messer said. “His fastball was lively, but if he only had that fastball, we'd have been OK.

“He was throwing his curve ball for strikes and his slider was working, too. Obviously, our pitching didn't match his.”

The Lakers (34-7) banged out 19 hits on the day. Their No.'s 2-6 hitters — Freeport graduate Ryan Siegel, Brendan Cox, Giancarlo Saia and Hank Morrison — were a combined 13-for-19 with eight RBI and seven runs scored.

Siegel had two doubles and a single. His first double was part of a first inning that greeted SRU pitcher Preston Falascino with four hits and a walk before The Rock could record an out.

“Once they got off to a quick start, we were pressing at the plate a bit,” Messer said. “We knew we needed to score some runs.”

Ty Zimmerman had a run-scoring double in the third and Kyle Vozar homered to right in the fifth for SRU. Besides that, the day belonged to McKee.

The Mercyhurst pitcher was shut down for two weeks late in the season with a virus that caused him to lose more than 10 pounds.

He did not return to the mound until last Saturday, when he threw 80 pitches in less than four innings against Seton Hill.

“We thought about just saving him for Game 1 of this tournament,” Spano said. “But that wouldn't have been fair to Colin. He was ready to go last weekend and it was an opportunity to get him back on schedule and shake some rust off.

“That outing last weekend definitely benefitted him today.”

McKee agreed.

“I needed that appearance to build back up,” he said. “I feel 100 percent again. My breaking stuff started working better late in this game.”

The Lakers player errorless baseball while SRU committed four errors.

While Mercyhurst is ranked No. 1 in the region and 11th in the nation, SRU (30-18) is trying to qualify for the Atlantic Regional tournament.

“I think it's 50-50 for us,” Messer said. “Unless East Stroudsburg wins this tournament, it will come down to us or West Chester — and we've beaten West Chester three times this season.”

Slippery Rock 001 010 000 — 2 6 4

Mercyhurst 400 412 00x — 11 19 0

W: Colin McKee 9IP (12K, 0BB). L: Preston Falascino 3.2IP (1K, 2BB).

Slippery Rock (30-18): Alex Bekll 1B, Logan Brown 1B, Kyle Vozar HR, Matt Mades 2-1B, Ty Zimmerman 2B RBI

Mercyhurst (34-7): Angel Martinez 1B RBI 2-R, Ryan Siegel 2-2B 1B RBI 2-R, Brendan Cox 4-1B RBI 3-R, Giancarlo Saia 2-1B 2-RBI, Hank Morrison HR 2-1B 4-RBI, Dan Karstedt 2B, Cameron Balego 1B, Jake Marinelli 1B, Daniel Elliot 2B 2-R, Collin Fantaskey 2-1B