Mercer University
East Tenn. St.
Lewis' Walk-Off Home Run Helps Baseball Sweep Series with ETSU
3/21/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
MACON, Ga. – Sophomore Kyle Lewis provided the perfect ending for the Mercer University baseball team's introduction to the Southern Conference, hitting a walk-off home run to help the Bears sweep Saturday's doubleheader and their league-opening series with ETSU.
The Bears' offense provided the heroics in Saturday's twin bill, just one day after Eric Nyquist's complete-game shutout in the series opener.
Mercer (15-11, 3-0 SoCon) put together 29 hits on the afternoon, as 10 players found the hit column. Lewis led the way with six hits, while continuing his power surge with his eighth and ninth home runs of the season. Danny Edgeworth and Nate Moorhouse each had four hits in the doubleheader, combining for five RBIs as well.
"We were able to get off to a good start this weekend with a couple close battles against a great team in ETSU," said head coach Craig Gibson. "Our guys had some great individual efforts this afternoon with Jose Hernandez coming through in the finale with some big hits and Kyle continuing to step up for us as he's done all year. It was a great series and hopefully we can keep it going into Tuesday night's game at Georgia."
GAME 1: Mercer 11, ETSU 5
After the Buccaneers raced out to an early lead with four runs in the top of the first, the Bears rattled off nine-straight runs to grab a 9-4 lead after four innings of play.
Edgeworth started the rally with a two-run double to right center, before scoring on Moorhouse's triple to straight-away center field that pulled the Bears within one, 4-3.
Mercer kept rolling in the second, using a three-run blast from Devin Bonin and a RBI single from Howard Joe to pull ahead 7-4. Trey Truitt provided another run with a solo shot in the third, before Jackson Ware's plated a run with a double down the left field line for a five-run advantage.
ETSU (11-10, 0-3 SoCon) stopped the bleeding in the fifth, getting a trio of two-out singles to cut the deficit to four, 9-5. However, the Bears pushed their lead back to five, 10-5, in the home half of the sixth, as Charlie Madden scored on Matt Meeder's suicide squeeze. Lewis rounded out the scoring for Mercer with a solo shot in the seventh.
Mercer put together 16 hits in the contest, as six Bears had multiple-hit performances. Lewis led the way with a team-high three hits and three runs, while Meeder's pair of doubles paced five others with two hits.
Mitchell Wade picked up his first win of the season, tossing 2.2 scoreless innings to lead an impressive effort by the Bears' bullpen. Mercer's relievers gave up just one run over the final eight innings, including 4.1 scoreless frames from Austin Lord and Ben Lumsden to close out the contest.
GAME 2: Mercer 10, ETSU 9
The Bears rallied from a two-run deficit late in the series finale with runs in each of the final three innings, including Lewis' ninth-frame heroics for the program's fourth-straight victory.
Morgan Pittman helped lead the late-game charge, giving up no runs on one hit in three innings of work to pick up his second win of the season.
Mercer jumped out to an early lead in the night cap, scoring three times in the bottom of the first. Lewis kicked off the scoring with a RBI double to left field, before Edgeworth followed with a run-scoring double of his own to plate Lewis. Moorhouse drove in Edgeworth with a single through the left side to wrap up the inning with a quick 3-0 advantage.
ETSU rallied with a run in the second on Daniel Tucker's sacrifice fly, before RBI hits by Chris Cook and Trey York knotted the game at 3-3. The Buccaneers added two more runs on back-to-back RBIs from Jordan Sanford and Doug McFarland in the fourth for their first lead of the game, 5-3.
However, the Bears fought back to tie the game in the bottom of the fourth, scoring two runs thanks to a RBI single from Lewis and Howard Joe's bases-loaded walk. Mercer pushed two more runs across in the fifth for a 7-5 lead, behind Truitt's run-scoring double and a RBI from Meeder.
The lead would be short lived though, as ETSU scored four runs on four hits in the top of the seventh to jump back on top, 9-7.
Jose Hernandez cut the lead in half in the home half, blasting a 3-2 pitch over the right field wall for his second home run of the season. The junior catcher came up big again in the eighth, driving in Moorhouse from first with a double to right center to tie the game and set up the team's third comeback win of the season.
Mercer finished with 13 hits in the finale, while having seven players with at least one RBI in the contest. Lewis finished 3-for-5 with three RBIs to pace the squad, while Edgeworth, Moorhouse and Hernandez each had a pair of hits.
"Every weekend in the SoCon is going to be this way, but I think it shows our young guys that we have a team that can contend for a chance to win this league," added Gibson.
The Bears will be back in action next Tuesday, March 24, when they travel to Athens, Ga. to wrap up their season series with Georgia. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m.
