Bears Take One of Two At No. 22 Auburn
4/7/2011 12:00:00 AM | Softball
AUBURN, Ala. – Mercer softball head coach Mike Raynor picked up his first win against a ranked opponent on Wednesday night by defeating No. 22 Auburn, 3-0, at Jane B. Moore Field.
Raynor, a fifth-year head coach, can now add taking down the No. 22 ranked team in the country to the number of impressive accomplishments in his time at Mercer. Raynor has had success against this Tiger team, and improved his record to 4-3 against Auburn since taking over in 2007.
The Bears (21-15, 4-6 A-Sun) fell in game two, 5-0 but walked away from the series with a 2-1 overall record against SEC opponents in 2010 (Mercer beat Mississippi St., 6-5 on February 25).
After four scoreless innings in game one, Mercer jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the fifth as junior Kristin Marko lined a shot back up the middle for the Bears' first hit of the game. Fellow junior Stephanie Canara came in to pinch run for Marko and promptly put herself in scoring position by taking second base on an Auburn passed ball.
The Bears' next batter, freshman Randi Rea, reached on an Auburn error at short that allowed Canara to get to third. Rea would then steal second on an Auburn pick-off attempt on Canara and all of a sudden the Bears had two runners in scoring position.
With one out, sophomore Sarah Santana came up to the plate and laid down a well-placed sacrifice bunt that scored Canara for what would be the game-winning run. The Bears added a second run in the inning when senior Anna Johnson bunt singled and drove in Rea from third on the very next play.
In the sixth, Mercer added its final run on some opportunistic base running by freshman McKenzie Woody. Woody motored around second and ended up on third on a rather routine groundout to third by Kassie Bailey. The quick freshman from Fayetteville, Ga. again pounced on an opportunity and scored from third on an Auburn passed ball and put the Bears up 2-0 at the end of six.
The Bears scored their three runs on just three hits in game one.
Senior pitcher Kari Chambers pitched a masterful five and two-third innings, giving up just five hits and a walk to record her 10th win of the season. Chambers was relieved in the bottom of the sixth as fellow senior Jenni Holtz finished off the shutout for her first save of the season.
Game two saw the Bears get behind early. MU was unable to bounce back and was shutout for the fifth time this season.
Auburn got on the board in the second inning on an uncharacteristic pair of errors by the Bears' defense, allowing an Auburn run to score from second. The Tigers would put up four more in the fifth as the Bears' pitching staff unraveled a bit, allowing four runs on a two-run home run, an RBI double and another RBI single.
Holtz was tagged with the loss in game two and lasted four and one-third innings, giving up three earned runs in the process. However, Holtz did finish the day with five strikeouts and is now just two strikeouts away from 900 for her career.
Holtz would become the first player in Mercer history to reach that mark. Her next chance to reach that goal is expected to be at Florida State next Tuesday in the Bears' next set of games (after a weekend off this week).
The Bears return home for an important four-game home stand the following weekend against East Tennessee State University and USC Upstate.
