BEL AIR, Md. - The Harford baseball team was outplayed and swept by Mercer County at home on Tuesday. The Fighting Owls blew leads in both contests and lost 16-8 and 12-8 to the undefeated Vikings.

Joe Burton reached base safely seven out of eight times, going 5-for-6 and scoring four times and Chase DeMars tallied two hits in both games for Harford.

Mercer 16, Harford 8
Ben Bomberger clubbed his third career grand slam in the second to give Harford a 6-1 lead, but the pitching staff couldn't hold the early advantage. Jack Hamner, who had two knocks in the loss, laced a long single off the top of the left-center wall with the bases loaded one batter before Bomberger's second home run of the season.

After allowing the grand slam, Mercer County scored in the final five innings to erase the deficit and remain unbeaten. Vinny Vaccone homered off Michael DellaMedaglia to tie the game at 7-7 in the fifth before Russell Messner connected on a three-run homer off TJ Pagan (0-1) in the sixth. 

The Vikings erupted for six runs in the seventh to put the game out of reach. Bomberger and Dominic DiSabatino finished with two hits and Michael Adams went 3.2 in the start, allowing four runs, three earned, while striking out five but walking six. Overall, the Fighting Owls staff walked nine batters and hit another.

Mercer 12, Harford 8
The Vikings offense continued to chip away in almost every inning, turning a small 3-2 Harford lead into a 10-3 advantage with a pair of big innings. Michael Devecchio (1-1) allowed seven runs, four earned, in the loss.

The Fighting Owls struck out 12 times in the loss, but four players collected a pair of hits. Joining DeMars and Burton in the multi-hit column was Hamner and JP Vail. Daulton Weeks and Chase DeMars had back-to-back doubles to tie the score at 2-2 before Burton brought home Weeks with an RBI-single. But Harford would not lead again.

The Fighting Owls host Penn State Schulkill on Wednesday at 3 p.m.