Mercer University
Fla. Gulf Coast
Softball Continues Road Swoon; Drop Two at FGCU
4/14/2012 12:00:00 AM | Softball
FORT MYERS, Fla.--The Mercer softball team continued its struggles in the Sunshine State getting swept for the second-straight time in a 48-hour period, as Florida Gulf Coast posted victories of 9-1 and 10-2 to hand the Bears their fourth straight Atlantic Sun loss Saturday afternoon at the FGCU softball complex.
The consecutive losses to FGCU come on the heels of a pair of losses to Stetson on Thursday in DeLand. With the consecutive setbacks, the Bears drop to 24-18 overall and 5-8 in the A-Sun, while the Eagles improve to 27-21 overall and 7-3 in A-Sun play.
The Bears have now lost seven of their last nine games, including five-straight.
Mercer pitcher Kassie Bailey took both losses for the Bears to drop to 9-8 on the campaign. In total, Bailey gave up nine runs on nine hits, while striking out five and walking two in the two losses.
Game 1 FGCU 9, Mercer 1
With the game tied 1-1 after three innings, Florida Gulf Coast would add eight runs in the bottom half of the fourth and fifth innings to run away with a 9-1 Atlantic Sun victory over Mercer in game one of a twinbill Saturday afternoon at the FGCU Softball complex
Chelsea Zgrabik went 2-for-3 with three RBIs to lead the Eagles at the plate, while Shelby Morgan improved to 16-5, scattering five Mercer hits and recording three strikeouts between the circle.
FGCU designated player Emily Lanier would begin the onslaught for the Eagles, as she singled left to start the bottom half of the fourth inning, and Stephanie Kujawa replaced Lanier on the base-pads as a pinch runner.
After Kassie Bailey struck out Zgrabik, Katie Bembnowski recorded the second single of the inning for the Eagles to put runners at first and second with one out. Mariah Fernandez would promptly clear the bases and put the Eagles back on top, 4-1, with a three-run homer to right field off Bailey to account for all three runs scored by FGCU in the bottom half of the inning.
It looked like Mercer might offer a promising answer from to FGCU in the top half of the fifth inning. Mackenzie Woody singled through the right side, and with Kristin Marko's walk, the Bears had runners at first and second with nobody out.
However, Bailey would strike out swinging, but Amber Bowman, who pinch ran for Marko, took second and Woody advanced to third, giving the Bears runners at second and third with only one out. However, the Bears would leave make a couple costly base-running miscues resulting in a double play after Tiffany Phillips' fielder's choice.
The Eagles would effectively end the game in the bottom half of the fifth, plating five runs, with Jessica Barnes' two-run home run, a Zgrabik RBI double and a Brittany Garbedian RBI single accounting for most of the damage done in the five-run explosion.
The Bears' only run in the opening game came in the top half of the third on an RBI single, which scored Woody to tie the game, 1-1.
The Eagles opened the scoring in the bottom half of the first, as Zgrabik laced a Bailey pitch to the center field gap for a run-scoring double. It was one of two RBI doubles that Zgrabik would record in the contest.
Game 2 FGCU 10, Mercer 2
Chelsea Zgrabik and Jessica Barnes claimed responsibility for six of Florida Gulf Coast's 10 runs in game two, as the Eagles picked up a 10-2 win over Mercer to complete the A-Sun doubleheader sweep at the FGCU Softball Complex.
Zgrabik and Barnes had three RBI apiece, while designated player Emily Lanier also had a couple of RBI to round out the Eagles with multi-RBI performances in the contest.
It appeared the Bears might avenge their opening game loss to the Eagles, after plating a pair of runs on three hits in the top half of the second inning.
Sarah Santana would record an RBI single to score Kassie Bailey to bring across the first run for the Bears, and Mercer would increase its lead to 2-0 on an RBI single by Sara Stukes, which brought Santana home from second.
It would be a six-run bottom half of the third inning that would ultimately spell doom for the Eagles, as Lanier scored the first two runs on an RBI single to the right side, tying the game, 2-2.
Later in the inning, Zgrabik launched a three-run home run to left, and Stephanie Metzger would record a pinch-hit, sacrifice fly to complete the six-run inning and give the Eagles a 6-2 lead.
The Eagles would plate another four runs in the bottom half of the fifth to complete the scoring.
All told, the Eagles would pound out seven hits to score their 10 runs en route to a second-straight eight-run win over the Bears.
