Mercer University
East Tenn. St.
Nyquist Shuts Down ETSU in Bears' SoCon-Opening Victory
3/20/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
MACON, Ga. – Senior Eric Nyquist tossed a three-hit shutout to lead the Mercer University baseball team to a 2-0 victory over East Tennessee State in the program's Southern Conference debut.
Nyquist needed just 98 pitches to record the third shutout of his career, outdueling ETSU ace Jimmy Nesselt and shutting down one of the SoCon's top offenses for his second complete-game effort of the year. The 6-foot-2 right-hander struck out seven, while holding the Buccaneers seven hits below their season average.
"It was a great Friday night baseball game with a pair of warriors battling on the mound," said head coach Craig Gibson. "Eric was throwing on a full week's rest for the first time this year and had all of his pitches going tonight. Our defense really stepped up behind him too and we were able to put a couple timely balls in play."
Mercer (13-11, 1-0 SoCon) provided just enough offense to notch its second-straight win, tallying four hits off of Nesselt, who was tagged with a loss for the first time this season. ETSU (11-8, 0-1 SoCon) committed three errors in the contest, all coming in a costly fourth inning.
The Bears took advantage of the mishaps, as Danny Edgeworth plated Kyle Lewis in what turned out to be the game-winning run. Mercer added an insurance run in the fifth, as Matt Meeder's single up the middle drove in Jose Hernandez to wrap up the scoring for both teams.
Lewis reached based for the 13th-straight game, tying Edgeworth for the team's top mark this season. The victory moved Nyquist to 3-1 on the year, as the Alpharetta, Ga. native saw his ERA dip to an impressive 1.17 following his second quality start of 2015.
"I'm always focused on beating the guy at the plate, but it is a great to know that you can count on your defense to make plays behind you," said Nyquist. "Our offense was able to put together a couple of runs against a very good pitcher tonight to help us get conference play off to a good start."
Mercer will continue its opening series of Southern Conference play tomorrow, March 21, as inclement weather expected later in the weekend will result in a doubleheader at Claude Smith Field. The opening game of Saturday's twin bill is schedule to start at 1 p.m.
