Mercer University
VMI
Baseball Splits Saturday's Twin Bill with VMI
4/16/2016 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
MACON, Ga. – The Mercer University baseball team split its doubleheader with VMI on Saturday at Claude Smith Field, claiming the series opener, 10-6, before falling 4-3 in the night cap.
GAME 1: Mercer 10, VMI 6
HOW IT HAPPENED
VMI grabbed an early lead thanks to a trio of two-out hits in the top of the first, as Matt Pita closed the rally with a RBI double for a 1-0 lead. The Keydets pushed their advantage to 2-0 in the fourth on Jacob Jacob Jaye's solo home run to left center.
Mercer answered in the middle innings, including a seven-run outburst in the sixth. Kyle Lewis started the rally with a run-scoring single to cut the deficit to one, before RBIs from Ryan Hagan and Charlie Madden handed the Bears their first lead of the game, 3-2. The Orange and Black kept rolling in the sixth, as Hunter Bening's grand slam gave them a 7-2 lead.
Trey Truitt pushed the lead to 8-2 in the sixth with a solo shot to right and would add another RBI in the seventh, as Mercer grew its lead to 9-2. The Bears added another run for a 10-2 advantage on Jackson Ware's sacrifice fly in the eighth, before VMI plated four in the top of the ninth to wrap up the scoring.
PLAYER OF THE GAME
Ryan Askew earned his second straight win to improve to 3-2 on the year, after recording his fourth consecutive quality start. The junior tossed scattered seven hits over seven innings, allowing just two runs while striking out three batters.
NOTABLES
- Mercer reached double-figure runs for the 14th time this season, improving to 12-2 in those contests.
- The Bears fell just shy of their season average with six walks, while also adding three free passes on hit batters.
- Truitt recorded his 14th multiple-hit performance of the year, finishing 2-for-3 at the plate with two RBIs. The sophomore hit his 10th home run of the year in the sixth, joining Lewis with double-figure long balls this season.
- Edgeworth also notched two hits in the series opener to push his hitting streak to seven games, going 2-for-4 en route to his 10th contest with two or more hits.
- Lewis reached base three times to extend his on-base streak to 35 games this season and a total of 44 straight games since 2015.
- Bening's grand slam in the fifth was his third home run of the season and marked his fourth multiple-RBI contest of the year.
- Jose Hernandez drew a pair of walks to extend his on-base streak to 10 games.
GAME 2: VMI 4, Mercer 3
HOW IT HAPPENED
The second game of the doubleheader featured a pitcher's duel, as Mercer starter Connor Herd and VMI's Josh Winder combined to give up just four hits through five scoreless innings. However, Lewis broke up the shutout bid for VMI with a solo shot to left field for a 1-0 lead after six innings of play.
The Bears pushed their lead to 3-0 in the seventh on Ware's two-run homer, but VMI would answer in the eighth. The Keydets cut the deficit to one, 3-2, on Collin Fleischer's two-run double, before tying the contest, 3-3, one batter later on Pita's solo shot to right center.
VMI kept its rally going in the ninth, taking advantage of a costly error early in the frame to score the game's winning run on Jake Huggins RBI double.
PLAYER OF THE GAME
Herd had the best outing of his career, as the sophomore struck out a career-high 10 batters while limiting VMI to just three hits in a scoreless 5.1 innings of action. His 10 strikeouts marks the first time a Mercer player has reached double-digits since Morgan Pittman fanned 11 in a win over Western Carolina last season.
NOTABLES
- Mercer is now 7-4 in its all-time series with VMI, having won six of the last eight meetings.
- The Bears' pitching staff struck out 13 batters in the contest, marking the 11th time this season that they have had double-digit strikeouts.
- Conard Broom made his nation-leading 25th appearance of the season, tossing 1.1 scoreless innings.
- Taylor Lobus was tagged with the loss, his third of the year.
- Madden recorded his seventh multiple-hit game of the season, going 2-for-4 at the plate.
- Lewis homered for the 14th time this season, while also reaching base on an intentional walk to push his on-base streak to 45 games.
- Ware's long ball was his first of the season, helping him notch his second multiple-RBI effort in 2016.
RECORDS UPDATE
Mercer pushes its record to 21-15 overall and 7-4 in the SoCon, while VMI moves to 17-22 overall and 2-9 in league play.
UP NEXT
The Bears will go for their eighth weekend series victory of the year on Sunday, April 17, as the action kicks off at 1 p.m. on Claude Smith Field.
