Mercer University
Florida A&M
Fast Start Lifts Baseball Past Florida A&M, 11-5
3/11/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The Mercer University baseball team scored the game's first six runs en route to an 11-5 victory over Florida A&M on Wednesday afternoon at Moore-Kittles Field.
Mercer (10-9) tallied a season-high 14 hits, pushing its record to 7-2 when reaching double-figures this year. The Bears had six players record multiple hits in the contest, led by Matt Meeder's 3-for-5 performance. Nate Moorhouse reached base five times on the day, while scoring five times and earning three free passes (two hit by pitch, one walk).
Morgan Pittman was credited with the win in a relief effort, giving up just four hits in two scoreless innings to move to 1-0 on the year. Dimitri Kourtis fell one out shy of the victory in his first start of the season, surrendering three runs in 4.2 innings of work.
Mercer, who improved to 8-0 when scoring first this season, pushed a run across in the top of the opening frame, as Howard Joe came up with a two-out RBI single to score Devin Bonin for a 1-0 advantage.
The Bears blew the game open in the second frame, plating five runs in the inning. Devin Bonin's sacrifice fly scored Meeder to open the scoring, before an error allowed Trey Truitt to cross the plate. Two batters later, Joe cleared the bases with a double to left center that put Mercer out in front, 6-0.
Florida A&M (7-8) cut the lead in half in the middle innings, scoring a run in the third and adding two more in the bottom of the fifth to pull within three, 6-3.
Mercer answered with a run in the sixth on Danny Edgeworth's RBI single, before Charlie Madden's two-run double in the gap pushed the Bears' lead to 9-3 after seven innings of play. Edgeworth added a solo shot in the eighth, while Meeder helped the Bears respond to a pair of FAMU runs in the bottom of the eighth with a RBI single in the ninth to round out the scoring.
The Bears return to action this weekend, as they welcome Bradley to Macon for a three-game series at Claude Smith Field. Play kicks off on Friday, March 13, at 6 p.m.
