Mercer University
Radford
Mercer Rolls Past Radford, 9-2, to Sweep Series
2/21/2016 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
MACON, Ga. – The Mercer University baseball team completed the sweep of Radford, rolling to a 9-2 victory in the series finale at Claude Smith Field on Sunday afternoon.
HOW IT HAPPENED
After rallying for the victory in each of the first two games of the series, Mercer took care of business early in Sunday's series finale. Freshman Kevin Coulter held the Radford bats hitless through the first 4.2 innings and the Mercer lineup took care of the rest. The Bears scored eight runs over a four-inning stretch to cruise to their third-straight win.
Howard Joe started the scoring with a RBI single in the bottom of the second, before Matt Meeder plated another run for a 2-0 advantage. The Bears added another score in the third on Jose Hernandez's RBI single and would tack on two more in the fourth as Joe scored on a balk and Kyle Lewis drove in Ryan Hagan with a run-scoring single.
Mercer kept rolling in the bottom of the fifth with three more runs, as Hernandez blasted his second home run of the series, a solo shot, and Hagan drove in a pair with a double off the wall in right center field.
Radford broke up the Bears' shutout bid in the top of the eighth, pushing two runs across before Mercer responded with one more run in the home half on Blaise Lezynski's hit by pitch with the bases loaded.
KEY TO THE GAME
Mercer's young pitching staff held Radford to just five hits on the afternoon, including only two through the first seven innings. Despite featuring a rotation today of two freshmen and two sophomores, the Bears only allowed a runner in scoring position in one inning.
PLAYER OF THE GAME
One day after coming up with the go-ahead homer in Saturday's win, Jose Hernandez continued to deliver at the plate for the Bears. The senior came through with hits in each of his first three at-bats, opening the day with a double off the wall in left center before adding a RBI single in the third and a solo shot in the sixth.
COACH GIBSON'S TAKE
"This was our most impressive game of the series, so I'm very proud of our guys for winning all three this weekend. Our defense was phenomenal today outside of an error in the eighth, but they gave great support behind Kevin Coulter, who probably had the best start a freshman has had in my entire time at Mercer. If he does that every Sunday, we're going to have a great ending to every weekend."
"It means a lot to get all three this weekend. Radford has really good club. Their starting pitching is outstanding and I don't think we'll face three better starters in the Southern Conference this season. We played nine good innings most games and offensively guys are seeing the ball better and starting to square some balls up, so it was a good weekend for us."
MERCER NOTABLES
- The Bears are now 3-0 in their all-time series with Radford, while moving to 64-52 all-time against Big South opponents.
- The Orange and Black have now swept their opening weekend three times in the last four seasons and a total of five times during head coach Craig Gibson's tenure.
- The Bears drew another six walks on Sunday, pushing their season total to 21.
- Coulter picked up his first collegiate victory, after giving up just one hit in 5.2 innings of action.
- Fellow freshman Kyle Bialousz also worked a scoreless day in his collegiate debut, scattering one hit over 1.1 innings of action while sophomore Carter Varga pitched a perfect ninth.
- Conrad Cornell made his season debut this afternoon, as the sophomore was tagged for two runs in the eighth.
- Mercer's outfield had a busy day, as Lewis and Jackson Ware combined for 11 putouts with several of those coming via the highlight variety.
- Hernandez's big day gives him three career multiple-hit efforts and a total of four career multiple-RBI performances.
- Hagan picked up another two-hit performance, his third of the series, while also tying Hernandez and Madden with a team-high two runs scored.
- Lewis notched his second multiple-hit performance of the season and the 36th of his career with a pair of singles. The junior also notched his second-straight game with a RBI to push his season total to four.
- Hagan, Hernandez, Lewis and Meeder each totaled at least one hit in each game this weekend.
- Madden tallied a team-best two bases on balls to push his team-leading total to four on the season.
RECORDS UPDATE
Mercer improves to 3-0 on the year, while the loss drops Radford to 0-3.
UP NEXT
Mercer will be back in action this Tuesday, as it welcomes Georgia to Claude Smith Field for a mid-week matchup. First pitch is set for 4 p.m.
