Mercer's Conference Woes Continue in 7-5 Defeat at UNF

Friday, April 15

7 pm

Mercer University

North Fla.

Mercer's Conference Woes Continue in 7-5 Defeat at UNF

4/15/2011 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A late charge by the Mercer baseball team fell just short in a 7-5 loss to North Florida on Friday evening at Harmon Stadium.

The loss for Mercer (23-14, 8-10 A-Sun) was its fourth-straight conference defeat while UNF (21-14, 11-8 A-Sun) has now won five out of its last six league contests.

Senior Robbie Collier picked up the win for the Ospreys after going seven innings and allowing four earned runs on five hits to go along with seven strikeouts.

The Bears jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the top of the first against UNF starter Robbie Collier thanks to a historic home run by junior Jacob Tanis. The two-run shot was the 41^st long ball of Tanis' career, putting him in a three-way tie for the ninth-most home runs in A-Sun Conference history.

The Orange and Black's lead was short lived; however, as the Ospreys rallied for three runs of their own in the bottom half of the frame. A two-RBI single by freshman Tyler Marincov and an RBI double by classmate Shane Kennedy put UNF in front, 3-2.

After a frantic opening inning, things calmed down for both sides until the home team extended their lead in the bottom of the fifth. Freshman Alex Bacon turned on a pitch for a solo home run to widen the Ospreys lead out to a 4-2 margin.

That sequence signaled the end of the evening for Love after five innings pitched and four runs allowed on seven hits.

UNF continued to add to its lead in the bottom of the seventh when junior Andrew Karmeris hit a solo home run and senior Michael Smith cracked an RBI double to make the score 6-2.

Mercer didn't roll over, however, using the long ball to work its way back into the game. Freshman Austin Barrett crushed a three-run home run to left center to bring the Bears within one, at 6-5.

Down 7-5 going into the top of the ninth Mercer couldn't mount any more offense as senior Casey Meldon retired the Bears in order to pick up the save and close out the North Florida victory.

Tanis was the only Bear with multiple hits in the loss, going 2-for-4 with two runs scored.

Mercer returns to the diamond on Saturday afternoon for game two of its three game series with UNF. Game time is scheduled for 1 p.m. at Harmon Stadium.