Mercer University
East Tenn. St.
Mercer Drops Two Games in Double-Header Action at ETSU
5/2/2015 12:00:00 AM | Softball
Johnson City, Tenn. - The Mercer University softball team drops both games of Saturday's double-header at East Tennessee State University. Kirsten Stevens was the unlucky loser in a 10 inning outing, picking up her eighth loss 2-1. Megan Bilgri, Anna O'Neill, and Rachael Hugghins each spent time in the circle for Mercer in game two in an eight-inning 7-6 loss.
Final – ETSU 2, Mercer 1
Game one of the day saw nine innings of scoreless work, with Stevens pitching 9.2 innings, allowing two runs, one earned, on six hits. She recorded six strikeouts, while only allowing one base-on-balls.
The Bears lone score of the game came in the tenth inning, as Natalie Shiver scored Taylor Miller on a RBI single up the middle. Mercer was paced offensively on the day by Emma Andrew, 2-for-4 with a double, and Shiver, 1-for-4 with a RBI.
Final – ETSU 7, Mercer 6
Mercer got on the board first, plating Miller on a Bucs error to give the Bears a 1-0 lead. ETSU answered with a run of their own to tie the game at one heading into the second.
Mercer exploded in the third, scoring five runs on five hits to take a 6-1 lead. Carter got the third going, scoring on a wild pitch. On the next at bat Kaylynn Sloat picked up a sac fly RBI to score Shiver. Quirisa Mauga closed out the back-to-back-to-back hit streak with a RBI single up the middle, scoring Taylor Rogers. Meghan Rud recorded the last two RBIs of the inning with a single down the right field line.
The Bucs wouldn't go away, scoring three runs in the fourth on four hits to close the Mercer lead to 6-4, where the score would stay until the seventh. ETSU tied the game on a two run homer in the bottom of the seventh, to force extra innings. The deciding run came in the bottom of the eighth on a RBI single to push across the final score of the game.
Miller led the way for the Bears going 3-for-5 with Carter and Mauga both going 2-for-4 on the day. Mercer's pitchers had a combined 4.95 ERA on the day allowing 10 hits on 7.1 innings of work.
Mercer will be back in action for game three on Sunday, starting at 12 p.m. to close out regular season play, before entering the conference tournament on Wednesday, May 6th. The conference tournament will be held at Chattanooga, Tennessee.
