Mercer University
Presbyterian
Baseball Off to Best Start Since 2005 after 10-3 Win over Presbyterian
2/26/2012 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
MACON, Ga. – Junior Evan Boyd had a season-high four hits and freshman Dawson Brown pitched 3.1 innings of shutout relief to give the Mercer baseball team a 10-3 win over Presbyterian on Sunday afternoon at Claude Smith Field.
Boyd paced a Bears offense that pounded out 18 hits on the day with three singles, a home run and two RBI; while Brown came on in relief of starter David Randall and scattered three hits while striking out four to pick up the win.
Mercer is now 8-1 to start the 2012 season, which is the best start for the program since also going 8-1 over its first nine games back in 2005. The Orange and Black have now won seven in a row and have out-scored their opposition by a combined total of 70-10 over that stretch.
As they have done throughout their series sweep of Presbyterian, the Bears jumped on the visitors early for a combined five runs over the first two innings of play. Boyd keyed the rally with a solo home run in the first and an RBI single up the middle in the second to give Mercer a 5-0 lead.
That looked to be all the run support Randall would need, as he allowed just two hits to the Blue Hose over the first three innings of play, until things started to unravel in the fourth.
After a home run by senior Tony Micklon and a sacrifice fly made the score 6-2, the Blue Hose pushed another run across in the fifth and knocked Randall out of the game. With the bases loaded and no outs junior David Teasley and freshman Morgan Pittman each retired the only batters they faced, before Brown entered and got the third out of the frame.
The Orange and Black kept coming offensively, however, tallying two more runs in the bottom of the sixth to put the game out of reach. Freshman Chesny Young hit an RBI single and junior David Reid-Foley smacked an RBI double to dead center to increase the Bears lead to 9-3.
Sophomore Nick Backlund also had another great day at the plate, going 3-for-5 with two RBI and two runs scored, while Boyd's three hits extended his hitting streak up to 12 games dating back to last season.
Mercer now hits the road for eight-straight games, starting on Tuesday evening against Georgia Southern. First pitch in Statesboro is set for 6 p.m. at J.I. Clements Stadium.
