Mercer University
Fla. Gulf Coast
Baseball Comes Up Big with Doubleheader Sweep of FGCU
4/6/2012 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
FORT MYERS, Fla. – The Mercer baseball team went on the road and picked up two games it absolutely needed to have after sweeping a doubleheader from Florida Gulf Coast on Friday evening at Swanson Stadium.
Mercer (20-12, 4-7 A-Sun) won game one 4-3 and pulled out a tightly contested 4-2 win in the nightcap.
With the doubleheader sweep, Mercer has now clinched its first Atlantic Sun Conference weekend series victory of the season and more importantly moves into a three-way tie with East Tennessee State and FGCU (11-20, 4-7 A-Sun) for sixth place in the league standings.
In game one, just like one could have predicted, a pitching duel emerged as the main theme to the contest between FGCU's Ricky Knapp and Mercer's Brandon Love. Both hurlers matched zeros on the scoreboard over the first three innings of play until the home team struck first off Love in the bottom of the fourth.
A lead-off single, a wild pitch and a sacrifice fly by sophomore Andrew Valencia plated the first run of the game to give FGCU a 1-0 lead.
Mercer came right back in a big way, however, scoring a run in the top of the fifth and sixth innings off Knapp to grab a lead of its own. A sacrifice fly by junior David Reid-Foley in the fifth and an RBI single by junior Logan Gaines in the sixth put the Bears ahead, 2-1.
The Orange and Black managed to scrap across a much needed insurance run in the top of the eighth thanks to an RBI single by redshirt sophomore Austin Barrett which made the score 3-1 Mercer.
Love would settle in from there, using all of his pitches and veteran poise on the mound to work out of multiple late inning jams. The Augusta, Ga. native went seven innings and allowed two runs, only one of which were earned, on six hits go along with five strikeouts.
After the Eagles scored in the top of the eighth, Mercer struck once again in bottom half of the frame thanks to an RBI double by redshirt sophomore Nick Backlund to put the Bears up by a 4-2 margin.
Sophomore Brandon Barker made sure the late inning run support wouldn't go to waste, as the Woodstock, Ga. native pitched the final two innings of the game to pick up the first save of his career.
In game two, it would be Mercer who lit up the scoreboard first when junior Evan Boyd crushed a solo home run, his third of the season, in the top of the third to put the visitors up 1-0.
The Bears continued to utilize the long ball on the top of the fourth when sophomore Derrick Workman and Reid-Foley each crushed solo home runs of their own to right field to make the score 3-0.
Freshman Dimitri Kourtis took over from that point forward, looking more and more comfortable in his new role as number two weekend starter for the Bears. The Alpharetta, Ga. native threw a career-best seven innings and allowed two runs on six hits to pick up his team-leading sixth win of the season.
FGCU did make it interesting, however, scoring two runs in the bottom of the eighth to make the score 4-2. Junior David Teasley then came on and like he has done so many times in his career got out a jam in the eighth and pitched a scoreless ninth for his third save of the season.
Workman led the way offensively with four hits and three runs scored while Backlund and sophomore Nate Moorhouse chipped in with three hits apiece in the sweep.
Mercer concludes its three-game series with FGCU on Saturday afternoon. Game time is scheduled for 2 p.m. at Swanson Stadium.
