Mercer University
Belmont
Bears Season Concludes with a 10-3 A-Sun Championship Loss to Belmont
5/25/2012 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
DELAND, Fla.- The Mercer baseball teams' 2012 Atlantic Sun Championship run came to a disappointing end with a 10-3 loss to Belmont on Friday afternoon at Melching Field.
Despite finishing the regular season winners of 13 out of its 14 games, Mercer (38-21) lost to Florida Gulf Coast last night and just couldn't turn things around today to rebound against No. 1 seeded Belmont (37-22).
Sophomore Brandon Barker got the start for Mercer and the Bruins touched him up early. Belmont scored two runs in the second and three more in the third to take an early 5-0 lead.
The Bruins continued to pour it on in the bottom of the fourth, using a balk, an RBI single by senior Zac Mitchell and an error to run their advantage up to 8-0.
The Mercer defense, which had been much improved towards the end of the season, had a rough afternoon committing three errors and allowed a passed ball to make four of the first eight runs Belmont scored unearned.
The Orange and Black tried to rally back with a run in the fifth and two more in the sixth, highlighted by an RBI double by freshman CJ Reed, to cut Belmont's lead down to 8-3.
That would be as close as Mercer got, however, as freshman Austin Coley came on in relief of Belmont starter James Buckelew and threw four innings of scoreless relief to close out the win.
Sophomore Derrick Workman and Reed led Mercer offensively with two hits apiece in the loss.
Despite the loss, Mercer still set a new program record for the lowest team ERA in a season (3.32 ERA) and finished tied for the second-most wins in program history, with 38.
Seniors Brandon Love, Jacob Matthews and Colby Collins all played their final games in a Mercer uniform today. The group helped the Bears to their 2010 A-Sun Championship title and a combined 138 wins over the past four years.
