Mercer University
Wofford
Baseball Drops Series Finale to Wofford, 7-5
3/26/2016 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
MACON, Ga. – The Mercer University baseball team saw its six-game winning streak come to an end, as the Bears dropped a 7-5 decision to Wofford in the series finale on Sunday afternoon at Claude Smith Field.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Wofford used a lead-off walk and back-to-back bunt singles to strike the opening salvo with a five-run third. The Terriers pushed their lead to 6-0 in the top of the fifth on McCain Bradley's RBI double.
Mercer's offense came to life in the bottom of the sixth, as Kyle Lewis started the rally with a solo home run to right to break up Wofford starter Jacob Condra-Bogan's shutout bid. Ben Upton followed Lewis' shot with a double, before Jose Hernandez and Danny Edgeworth each reached to load the bases. Hunter Bening stepped up for the Bears, smoking a grand slam off the batter's eye in straight-away center field to pull the Orange and Black within one, 6-5.
Wofford answered in the seven, as Bradley's RBI single added a key insurance run for a 7-5 lead. The Bears put a pair of runners on in the eighth, but Terriers' closer Will Stillman shut the door before tossing a perfect ninth for his seventh save of the season.
KEY TO THE GAME
After preventing the big inning in the first two games of the series, Mercer surrendered five runs to the Terriers in the third. Although the Bears rallied with a five-run frame of their own in the sixth, it wasn't enough as Wofford's pair of insurance runs were the difference.
PLAYER OF THE GAME
Bening came through with Mercer's biggest hit of the day, as his grand slam in the sixth was his second long ball of the weekend. The junior finished 2-for-4 at the dish with a career-high four RBIs.
COACH GIBSON'S TAKE
"I thought we played pretty well with good starting pitching, but we just had one inning where we gave up a five spot. I told the guys that we played 26 good innings this weekend, but we didn't field a bunt at third base and that hurts us. It was disappointing, but they have some good arms and they pitched really well."
"You have to play every day and we need to move on with a couple strong clubs coming to Macon this week before we go face a tough Samford club in Birmingham next weekend. It is disappointing that we let that one inning get away from us, we are better than that. However, I'm proud of the way that we came back. We were down 6-0 and Kyle (Lewis) hits one out and Bening gets a grand slam to make it a one-run game but they have a good piece at the end and they were able to close it out."
NOTABLES
- The Bears are now 15-9 in their all-time series with Wofford.
- Mercer fell short in its bid for a sweep on the opening weekend of conference play for the second straight year, after accomplishing the feat last season against ETSU.
- The Orange and Black's offense recorded their third double-digit hit performance of the weekend and the 15th of the year, finishing with 10 on the day.
- Kevin Coulter took the loss on the mound to fall to 3-1 on the year, after giving up six runs on just six hits in five innings of work.
- Mercer got scoreless relief outings from Kyle Bialousz, Nick Spear and Austin Lord as the group combined to give up only two hits in 3.2 innings of work.
- Ryan Hagan finished 2-for-5 at the plate for to push his team-leading hitting streak to 15 games and giving him 13 contests with multiple hits.
- Lewis extended his hitting streak to 14 games with a solo home run in the sixth. The long ball was the junior's 11th of the season and the second in as many games.
- Upton recorded his second multiple-hit effort of the weekend and fourth of the year, going 2-for-4 with a double.
- Edgeworth also had a multiple-hit performance, his sixth this season, finishing 2-for-4 at the plate with one run scored.
RECORDS UPDATE
Mercer drops to 15-9 overall and 2-1 in the Southern Conference, while Wofford improves to 16-9 overall and 1-2 in the league.
UP NEXT
The Bears will host a pair of mid-week contests at Claude Smith Field next week, as they welcome Savannah State on Tuesday, Mar. 29, and Georgia State on Wednesday, Mar. 30.
