Baseball Takes Down Xavier, 5-3

Saturday, February 27

Macon, Ga.

2 pm

Mercer University

Xavier

2/27/2016 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

MACON, Ga. – The Mercer University baseball team held on to defeat Xavier for the second straight day, picking up a 5-3 victory on Saturday afternoon at Claude Smith Field.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Mercer used the home run ball to jump out to an early lead in the second game of the weekend series. Matt Meeder got things going with a solo shot in the first, before Kyle Lewis and Charlie Madden smacked back-to-back homers in the third. Lewis took the first pitch of his at-bat to center for a two-run jack, which was followed by Madden's solo home run to left center to hand the Bears a 4-0 advantage.

Xavier responded with a run in the fourth on Sam Flamini's RBI single to trim the lead to 4-1. After three straight scoreless innings for both teams, the Musketeers cut the Bears' lead to one, 4-3, with a pair of runs in the top of the eighth.

Mercer added an insurance run in the ninth for a 5-3 advantage though, as pinch runner Conrad Cornell cross the plate on a failed pick-off attempt. Freshman Kyle Bialousz tossed a scoreless ninth for his first career save, handing the Bears their second straight win.

KEY TO THE GAME
Mercer came into Saturday with six home runs through its first five games and added three more this afternoon, as four of the team's five runs came via the long ball.

PLAYER OF THE GAME
Lewis had his best outing of the season at the plate, finishing with a game-high three hits. His two-run homer in the third gives him three long balls for the season and pushes his streak to three straight games with a home run.

COACH GIBSON'S TAKE
"Today was another great game against a strong club. I thought we had outstanding pitching from the start with Connor Herd and then Nick Spear picked up from there with three great innings before Kyle Bialousz closed it out. Defensively we were very good and had some timely hits from the offense, so that's how you win baseball games."

"The long ball definitely gave us confidence today, it plays in our park. Of course Matt Meeder got us off to a good start, Kyle Lewis continued to swing it well and hopefully this gets Charlie Madden going. I'm really proud of our team. A lot of guys got to play today and Hunter Bening was fantastic in a bigger role for us. I love this team, it's a great group of guys to be around."

MERCER NOTABLES

The Bears are now 3-1 all-time against Xavier, as they remain perfect with a 4-0 record in weekend match-ups this season.

The Orange and Black are now one win away from their second straight weekend sweep to open the season, which will mark the second time in the last three years that they have accomplished the feat.

Mercer's rotation continues to impress this series, having held Xavier to just five runs in 19 innings of action. The Bears' pitching staff combined for nine strikeouts today, pushing their series total to 22.

The Bears reached double-figure hits for the second time this season, finishing with 10 on the day.

Mercer drew six walks in the contest, led by two from Ryan Hagan.

Connor Herd had a solid start for the Bears, giving up just one run on five hits in 3.2 innings of work.

Nick Spear earned the win in his collegiate debut, holding Xavier without a hit in 3.1 innings of action while striking out six.

Bialousz tossed 1.2 scoreless innings for Mercer for the save, the team's third this season.

Meeder's lead-off home run was his first of the year and the third of his career. It also pushed his hitting streak to six games, topping the team alongside Lewis, who also saw his hitting streak climb to six contests thanks to his three-hit performance.