Mercer University
Harvard
Baseball Drops Saturday's Doubleheader with Harvard
3/7/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
MACON, Ga. – The Mercer University baseball team dropped both games of Saturday afternoon's twin bill with Harvard at Claude Smith Field, falling 6-1 in the opener and 8-7 in the nightcap.
Mercer (8-8) was unable to rebound from Friday night's loss to the Crimson (5-2) and was outhit 22-10 in Saturday's portion of the four-game series. The Bears, who lead the SoCon and rank among the national leaders with 16 long balls this season, clubbed four home runs on the day.
HARVARD 6, MERCER 1
Mercer's offense struggled in the day's opening game, managing a season-low three hits. Harvard took advantage, scoring a pair of runs in the fourth, before adding one tally in each of the next three frames for a 5-0 advantage.
Danny Edgeworth provided Mercer's only offense of the game in the eighth, lifting a solo shot over the right field fence for his second long ball of the season. However, the Bears were unable to get any closer, as the Crimson added an insurance run in the 9th to wrap up a 6-1 victory.
Connor Herd was credited with the loss for Mercer despite five solid innings, as he surrendered four runs on six hits after tossing three-straight scoreless frames to open the game.
HARVARD 8, MERCER 7
The Crimson scored three runs in the first two innings off of Mercer starter DJ Johnson, but the Bears would turn to the long ball to keep pace.
Devin Bonin smacked his first home run in a Mercer uniform with a first-inning shot to right, before the added Nate Moorhouse's second career four-bagger in the second frame. Kyle Lewis tied the contest in the third, 3-3, drilling the game's third solo shot with a drive to left field for his team-leading fifth home run of the season.
Much like it has all series though, Harvard had an answer for the Bears' fireworks. The Crimson used a four-run fourth inning to regain the lead for good, 7-3.
Mercer kept fighting despite the four-run deficit, igniting a rally with a three-run fifth. The Bears took advantage of a two-out error to keep the inning alive, before Howard Joe's two-run single to center field trimmed the deficit to one, 7-6.
Jake McQuiggan, who had three hits in the game, put the finishing touches on a great game at the plate in the seventh, scoring what turned out to be the nightcap's winning run on a solo shot to left field.
Once again the Bears responded, but one run in the home half would not be enough as they were haunted by eight stranded runners over the final four frames.
Lewis recorded his eighth multiple-hit performance of the year to lead Mercer's offense, which put together seven hits in the contest.
Mercer wraps up the four-game series with Harvard tomorrow, March 8, with a 1 p.m. contest at Claude Smith Field.
