Friday, May 10
Nashville, Tenn.
5 p.m.
Mercer University
26-22
5
at
4
Belmont
23-25
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Mercer
3
0
0
0
0
2
0
0
0
5
6
2
Belmont
2
0
2
0
0
0
0
0
0
4
10
1
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Smith, Scott (4-2)
L: QUEENER, Casey (4-3)
S: Spear, Nick (5)
Batting:
HR: Johnson, Kel 1 ; Price, Collin 1
RBI: Johnson, Kel 1 ; Price, Collin 3 ; Ammons, Jordan 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Johnson, Kel 2 ; Yeager, RJ 2 ; Price, Collin 1
HBP: Yeager, RJ 2
Batting:
RBI: GARDNER, Devon 1 ; SEVERANCE, Hagan 1 ; BEHRENDS, John 1 ; JARVIS, Logan 1
Base Running:
RUNS: EHRHART, Zach 1 ; HADDEN, Chas 1 ; HOLLAND, Hunter 1 ; SEVERANCE, Hagan 1
SB: EHRHART, Zach 1 ; GARDNER, Devon 1 ; BEHRENDS, John 1
HBP: GARDNER, Devon 1
Game Leaders
AB
3
R
2
H
1
RBI
1
AB
3
R
1
H
1
RBI
3
AB
2
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
OF
/ Baseball
RHP
/ BaseballOF
/ Baseball
LHP
/ BaseballC/OF
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
Photo by: Ken Lanese
Bullpen Shines in Bears’ Win over Belmont
5/10/2019 8:37:00 PM | Baseball
Nick Spear tosses three-inning save, Bears bash two long balls
NASHVILLE – Three Mercer relivers tossed six shutout innings to lead the Bears to a series-opening 5-4 victory over Belmont at E.S. Rose Park on Friday.
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Nick Spear earned a three-inning save while Scott Smith and Holton McGaha helped stifle the host Bruins' bats down the stretch. Belmont (23-25) tallied eight hits and owned a 4-3 lead through three innings, but only managed two hits the rest of the way against Mercer's (27-22) bullpen.
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Kel Johnson hit a game-tying solo home run in the top of the sixth and was followed by a pinch-hit, go-ahead RBI single from Jordan Ammons that scored RJ Yeager and gave Mercer a 5-4 advantage. Ammons' clutch single proved to be the game-winner as McGaha pitched a scoreless home half of the sixth before turning it over to Spear, who struck out three Bruins.
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Collin Price emphatically kicked off the weekend with a three-run home run in the top of the first. The freshman's fifth long ball of the season came with two outs after Johnson (walk) and Yeager (hit by pitch) reached base. Belmont answered with two runs of its own in the opening home half after Sawyer Gipson-Long allowed three consecutive hits in the frame.
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Belmont took its first lead of the game, 4-3, as it tagged Gipson-Long for two more runs on four hits in the third. Smith (4-2) relieved Gipson-Long in the fourth and tossed two hitless innings to bridge the gap to McGaha while earning his fourth win of the year.
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Records Update
» Mercer: 27-22
» Belmont: 23-24
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Pitchers of Record
» Win: Scott Smith (4-2)
» Save: Nick Spear (5)
» Loss: Casey Queener (4-3)
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Notables
» Collin Price extended his reached base streak to 24 games with his first-inning home run.
» Nick Spear's save was his fifth this season and 18th of his career.
» Kel Johnson became the first Mercer player to hit 20 home runs in a single season since Kyle Lewis did so in 2016. Johnson is tied with Lewis, Chris Clayton (1999) and Frank Millerd (1982) for the sixth-most home runs in a single season by a Mercer player.
» Mercer won its fourth straight series-opening game dating back to April 18 at VMI.
» The Bears earned the win despite being out-hit, 10-6.
» RJ Yeager (1-for-2) reached base three times with a single and two hit-by-pitch.
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Up Next
Mercer and Belmont will play game two of their weekend series at 3 p.m. Saturday in Nashville.
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Follow the Bears
For complete coverage of Mercer Baseball, please follow the Bears on social media at @MercerBaseball (Twitter), /MercerBaseball (Facebook) and @Mercer.Baseball (Instagram) or visit the official home of Mercer Athletics at MercerBears.com.
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Nick Spear earned a three-inning save while Scott Smith and Holton McGaha helped stifle the host Bruins' bats down the stretch. Belmont (23-25) tallied eight hits and owned a 4-3 lead through three innings, but only managed two hits the rest of the way against Mercer's (27-22) bullpen.
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Kel Johnson hit a game-tying solo home run in the top of the sixth and was followed by a pinch-hit, go-ahead RBI single from Jordan Ammons that scored RJ Yeager and gave Mercer a 5-4 advantage. Ammons' clutch single proved to be the game-winner as McGaha pitched a scoreless home half of the sixth before turning it over to Spear, who struck out three Bruins.
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Collin Price emphatically kicked off the weekend with a three-run home run in the top of the first. The freshman's fifth long ball of the season came with two outs after Johnson (walk) and Yeager (hit by pitch) reached base. Belmont answered with two runs of its own in the opening home half after Sawyer Gipson-Long allowed three consecutive hits in the frame.
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Belmont took its first lead of the game, 4-3, as it tagged Gipson-Long for two more runs on four hits in the third. Smith (4-2) relieved Gipson-Long in the fourth and tossed two hitless innings to bridge the gap to McGaha while earning his fourth win of the year.
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Records Update
» Mercer: 27-22
» Belmont: 23-24
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Pitchers of Record
» Win: Scott Smith (4-2)
» Save: Nick Spear (5)
» Loss: Casey Queener (4-3)
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Notables
» Collin Price extended his reached base streak to 24 games with his first-inning home run.
» Nick Spear's save was his fifth this season and 18th of his career.
» Kel Johnson became the first Mercer player to hit 20 home runs in a single season since Kyle Lewis did so in 2016. Johnson is tied with Lewis, Chris Clayton (1999) and Frank Millerd (1982) for the sixth-most home runs in a single season by a Mercer player.
» Mercer won its fourth straight series-opening game dating back to April 18 at VMI.
» The Bears earned the win despite being out-hit, 10-6.
» RJ Yeager (1-for-2) reached base three times with a single and two hit-by-pitch.
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Up Next
Mercer and Belmont will play game two of their weekend series at 3 p.m. Saturday in Nashville.
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Follow the Bears
For complete coverage of Mercer Baseball, please follow the Bears on social media at @MercerBaseball (Twitter), /MercerBaseball (Facebook) and @Mercer.Baseball (Instagram) or visit the official home of Mercer Athletics at MercerBears.com.
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