Mercer University
Lipscomb
Tanis, French Power Mercer to 12-2 Win over Lipscomb
4/23/2011 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
MACON, Ga. – Junior Jacob Tanis hit two home runs and senior Justice French threw 6.2 quality innings to lift the Mercer baseball team to a 12-2 win and three-game series sweep of Lipscomb on Saturday afternoon at Claude Smith Field.
Tanis hit a solo home run in the bottom of the sixth and a grand slam in the bottom of the seventh to put the game out of reach. With those two long balls, Tanis now has 45 career home runs, tying him with Georgia State's Jason Glover for fifth-most on the Atlantic Sun Conference all-time list.
Not to be outdone in Saturday's victory was French, who put together his sixth quality start of the season by allowing just one earned run. In total, the Suwanee, Ga. native scattered eight hits over his 6.2 innings pitched to pick up his third win of the season.
Mercer (28-15, 12-11 A-Sun) took advantage of some sloppy Lipscomb (14-27, 5-13 A-Sun) defense in the beginning stages of the game to take an early lead. Tanis hit a high pop up with the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the second, but Lipscomb pitcher Chris Nunn dropped the ball which allowed two runs to come in, making the score 4-2 Bears.
The Orange and Black went back to work in the bottom of the third, increasing their lead up to a 6-2 margin after junior Billy Burns walked with the bases loaded and senior Joe Winker hit a sacrifice fly to right.
That would be more than enough support for French, who settled down after giving up runs in the first and second innings. French went on a run of retiring eight Bisons in a row, from the third to the fifth, before junior M.L. Williams singled with two outs in the fifth to end the streak.
Senior Thomas Carroll put the icing on the cake for the Bears by following Tanis's grand slam in the seventh with a solo home run of his own to conclude the scoring in the ball game, at 12-2.
Mercer returns to the diamond on Monday, April 25, when it travels to Kennesaw to play a non-conference mid-week game with Kennesaw State. Game time is scheduled for 6 p.m. at Stillwell Stadium.
