Mercer University
Georgia
Baseball Rolls Early in 16-4 Triumph Over Georgia
3/17/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
MACON, Ga. – The Mercer University baseball team eclipsed its season marks for hits and runs while scoring in each of the first five innings during a dominating 16-4 victory over Georgia in front of a sell-out crowd of 1,289 on Tuesday night at Claude Smith Field.
Mercer (12-11) had 10 players find the hit column amidst its offensive fireworks, racking up 17 hits including a season-high nine of the extra base variety. Howard Joe paced six Bears with multiple hits, finishing 3-for-5 at the plate with two doubles. Mercer, who came into the game ranked third in the nation with 23 home runs, added two to that tally with long balls from Charlie Madden and Danny Edgeworth.
Lost in the dominant effort at the plate for Mercer was an impressive performance by the Bears' pitching staff. Grant Papelian gave up one unearned run in 5.2 innings on the mound on the way to his second win of the year. Austin Lord and Ben Lumsden tossed back-to-back scoreless innings, before the Bulldogs scored three of their four runs on one swing in the ninth.
"I was really proud of the team for an outstanding effort tonight," said head coach Craig Gibson. "Grant (Papelian) was special on the mound and got a great performance behind him by our defense. Of course, offensively we had an incredible showing at the plate, putting together a lot of great at-bats."
Mercer jumped out to an early lead thanks to a trio of two-out hits in the opening inning of play. Kyle Lewis started the rally with a two-out double, before scoring on back-to-back wild pitches from Georgia starter Ryan Avidano. After a double by Joe and a Nate Moorhouse walk, Madden pushed the lead to four with a three-run blast to left field.
Georgia (12-9) took advantage of an error in the second to cut the deficit to three, 4-1, but Mercer would respond with two runs in the home half before opening the flood gates in the third.
The Bears pushed five runs across in the inning to grow their lead to double-digits. Edgeworth started the surge with a RBI single, before Trey Truitt drew a bases-loaded walk. Matt Meeder continued the run with a run-scoring single, followed by Lewis' sacrifice fly and a RBI hit by Joe put Mercer out in front, 11-1.
Edgeworth hit his fourth home run of the year in the fourth, before Moorhouse plated Joe with a single down the right line for a 13-1 advantage after five frames. Mercer tacked on three more runs in the bottom of the eighth, behind RBI hits from Conrad Cornell and Daniel Tefft.
The Bulldogs stopped the bleeding after 12 unanswered runs with three runs in the ninth, as Brandon Stephens' fourth hit of the night went over the fence in left field for a three-run shot to close out the scoring.
Mercer will open up Southern Conference this weekend, March 20-22, when it hosts ETSU for a three-game series at Claude Smith Field. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. on Friday night.
"We are looking forward to a great series against an old foe in a new league," added Gibson. "They have had our number lately, so we are expecting a competitive series with two equally matched teams."
