Walk-Off Single Lifts College of Charleston Past Mercer, 5-4

Saturday, March 12

Charleston, SC

2:30 pm

Mercer University

Col. of Charleston

Walk-Off Single Lifts College of Charleston Past Mercer, 5-4

3/12/2016 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. – The Mercer University baseball team dropped a heartbreaker to the College of Charleston, 5-4, falling in the bottom of the ninth on a walk-off on Saturday afternoon at Patriots Point.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Kyle Lewis got things going early for the Bears with a solo home run in the top of the first, before the College of Charleston used a pair of two-out RBI singles to go out in front 2-1. Mercer bounced back in the third, as Lewis drove in Trey Truitt with a RBI single to tie the game before Ryan Hagan crossed the plate with the go-ahead run via a balk.

The Cougars tied the game, 3-3, in the bottom of the fourth on Erven Roper's sacrifice fly. Mercer went back out in front in the sixth on Blaise Lezynski's RBI single, before the College of Charleston tied it up once again, 4-4, in the home half with a run-scoring single of its own.

The Bears stranded at least one runner in scoring position in each of the past two innings and the College of Charleston took advantage. Bradley Dixon's single through the right side won the game, as Roper avoided the tag at the plate to score the game's winning run in the bottom of the ninth.

KEY TO THE GAME
In a one-run game that was largely dominated by pitching, it was the College of Charleston's advantage at the plate in key situations that stood out. The Cougars came through with a base hit in four of their 10 opportunities with runners in scoring position, while Mercer was held to 2-for-11 hitting in those situations.

PLAYER OF THE GAME
Lewis had another great game at the plate for the Bears, as he went 3-for-4 with one home run and two RBIs. The junior pushed his hitting streak to six games, while recording his eighth multiple-hit performance and fifth multiple-RBI contest this season.

COACH GIBSON'S TAKE
"It was another great college baseball game. We are still lacking offensively though and need someone to come up and drive in a run with two outs. We had some chances, but just couldn't come through. I thought our pitching was great today though, the guys really came through collectively. I'm really proud of Connor Herd, we really need him for our team to be good. (Conard) Broom is starting to put together some good outings, (Kyle) Bialousz was outstanding and (Taylor) Lobus was strong at the end as well."

"They have a good club. That is why they are going to be at the top of their league. Give their guy credit, we had some good at-bats but we need to be better in key situations with the game on the line. We will come back and be ready to play in game three and hopefully (Kevin) Coulter will get us going with the good start on the mound."

MERCER NOTABLES

The Bears are now 19-13 all-time against the College of Charleston.
The loss hands Mercer its first weekend series defeat of the season, snapping it streak at three straight series wins.
The Bears bullpen had another strong outing, giving up just three runs on eight hits in eight innings of work.
Mercer reached double-digit hits for the eighth time this season, finishing with 10 on the day. The Orange and Black are now 6-2 when compiling 10 or more hits this year.
Connor Herd started things off for the bullpen, throwing 2.2 innings of relief. The sophomore held the Cougars to just one run on one hit while striking out a pair.
Kyle Bialousz tossed a scoreless inning in relief, his third straight scoreless appearance.
Mercer also got a solid outing from Conard Broom, who gave up one run on two hits in 2.1 frames.
Taylor Lobus took the loss for the Bears, as he fell to 2-1 after giving up one run in 1.1 innings.
Blaise Lezynski had the first multiple-hit game of his Mercer career, going 2-for-3 at the plate including a RBI single in the sixth.
Truitt had his seventh multiple-hit performance of the season, finishing 2-for-4 with one run scored. All seven of those multiple-hit efforts have come over the last 11 contests.
Hagan pushed his hitting streak to six games with his single in the third inning.
Howard Joe had a hit in his only at-bat, a pinch-hit single to lead off the ninth.