Mercer University
Virginia Tech
Baseball Drops 11-4 Decision to Virginia Tech
2/14/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
MACON, Ga. – The Mercer University baseball team saw a sixth-inning lead slip away, as Virginia Tech scored eight runs over the final four frames to even the season-opening series with an 11-4 victory on Saturday afternoon at Claude Smith Field.
"We played well Friday, but they came out and played well today with a great performance on the mound," said head coach Craig Gibson. "Game three is going to come down to who wants it the most, so we are hoping to step it up both offensively and defensively and have a great end to the series."
Virginia Tech got on the board first, taking advantage of a pair of Mercer errors to push two runs across in the top of the third inning. The Hokies added another run off an error in the top of the fifth for a 3-0 advantage, before Mercer answered in the bottom half.
After the Bears' first three batters of the inning reached to load the bases, freshman Trey Truitt came up with his second long ball in as many days. The Dothan, Ala. native drove the first pitch of his at-bat over the left field wall for a grand slam to put Mercer on top, 4-3, heading into the sixth.
However, things would go downhill from there, as the Hokies plated five runs in a key sixth inning before adding a trio of insurance runs over the final two frames.
Austin Lord was tagged with the loss, after giving up four runs in the fifth. Freshman starter Connor Herd had a solid collegiate debut on the mound, giving up three runs, all unearned, in 4.2 innings of work.
A day after reaching double-figures in the hits column, the Bears (1-1) were held to five hits while leaving nine runners on base. Nate Moorhouse paced the team with three hits in his season debut, while Truitt pushed his season RBI total to seven with his fourth-inning grand slam.
Mercer will look to win the season-opening series, as it closes out play with the Hokies tomorrow, February 15, at Claude Smith Field. First pitch is set for 1 p.m.
