Mercer University
Notre Dame
Early Home Runs Doom Mercer in Loss to Notre Dame
2/28/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
MACON, Ga. – The Mercer University baseball team saw its five-game winning streak come to an end, as Notre Dame (9-1) used four home runs in the first three innings to record an 8-2 victory on Saturday afternoon at Claude Smith Field.
Mercer (6-5) was held to six hits in the contest, failing to reach double-figures for just the first time in its last six games. Freshman Trey Truitt went 2-for-3 at the dish to lead the team, while Danny Edgeworth and Nate Moorhouse provided the team's only offense with solo shots.
The Bears dug themselves a three-run hole for the second-straight game, but were unable to rally back this time around. Notre Dame used a pair of two-out home runs for a 3-0 advantage in the first inning, before adding two more runs on solo blasts for a 5-0 advantage.
Mercer broke up Brandon Bielak's shutout bid in the fourth, as Moorhouse went yard to put the Bears on the board. However, the Irish manufactured two more runs in the sixth to push their lead to six, 7-1.
Edgeworth cut the deficit to five, 7-2, with his first collegiate home run, a one-run blast to right field.
Notre Dame pushed another run across in ninth to round out the scoring, as Cavan Biggio drove in his third run of the game with a sacrifice fly.
Connor Herd was tagged with the loss, the first of his collegiate career. The freshman gave up three runs on three hits in two innings of work. The Bears got two scoreless innings from Eric Nyquist in his season debut as well as untainted efforts on the mound by Austin Lord and Carter Varga.
Mercer wraps up play this weekend on Sunday, as it hosts Belmont in the final game of the Mercer Baseball Classic. First pitch is set for 1 p.m. at Claude Smith Field.
