Pitching Leads Bears Past Hawks

Friday, February 14

Macon, Ga.

4 p.m.

Mercer University

1-0

Maryland - Eastern Shore

0-1

UMES

Mercer

Photo by: Ben Murray

2/14/2020 9:47:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

The Bears pitching staff recorded 18 strikeouts in the contest

By: Travis Rae

MACON, Ga. – The pitching staff of Mercer baseball combined for 18 strikeouts on opening day while the offense hit three home runs en route to a 13-4 victory over Maryland-Eastern Shore on Friday night at OrthoGeorgia Park.

With the win, the Bears won their 10 straight opening day game. Tanner Hall anchored a pitching staff that recorded 18 strikeouts as a group. Hall picked up his first win of the season as he went five innings and recorded a career-high nine strikeouts.

After Hall sat the Hawks down in order in the top of the first inning, Mercers' came out swinging. With two runners on, Collin Price picked up the first RBI of the season with a groundout to shortstop. With a 2-0 lead in the first, Colby Thomas doubled in his first collegiate at-bat to put the Bears ahead, 4-0.

Mercer extended the lead to 7-0 in the bottom of the second inning. The Bears scored two runs on a dropped fly ball by the Hawks right fielder. Later in the inning, Brandon Michie drove in a run with a double to right field.

Hall ran into a little trouble in the top of the third inning as he gave up a leadoff double. Later in the inning, he had a runner on third with one out. He recorded two strikeouts in the inning and held the Hawks off the scoreboard.

In the bottom of the third, Thomas led off the inning with a monster home run to left field, growing the lead to 8-0. Maryland-Eastern Shore got two back in the top of the fourth, but Mercer again added to the lead in the fourth as Bill Knight singled up the middle for an RBI.

The Hawks scored their third run in the top of the sixth before the Bears grew the lead to 10. In the bottom of the sixth, Michie hit a three-run opposite field home run before Knight hit a home run to go back-to-back.

The Bears' bullpen only allowed one more run over the final three innings of the contest and Mercer came away with a 13-4 victory. Mercers' bullpen allowed just four hits in four innings of work.

Coach Gibson's Take
Opening Statement…
"For an opening day environment, the crowd was electric and I thought our athletic staff did a great job of getting people to the ballpark. I can't say enough about Tanner Hall's start, he was outstanding. I thought our bullpen was really special tonight and offensively we had guys have some good nights."

On the pitching staff's performance…
"One thing our pitching coach Brent Shade has those guys doing is throwing strikes. I am not only pleased with the 18 strikeouts in the game, but we only issued one walk and had one hit batter. We did not give them free bases. When you do those kinds of things, you always have a chance to win and that is our receipt here, we want to pitch and play defense."

Offense hitting three home runs…
"Colby Thomas got us going early and he is an electric freshman and he is a very talented player. Brandon Michie hit a ball out going to the opposite field and Bill Knight followed by hitting one of his own. Those are special guys and they have been with us for a while and they had good nights. We hit some quality pitches and we put pressure on them for nine straight innings."

Player of the Game
Tanner Hall made his first Friday night start as a Bear and did not disappoint. He went five innings of work and struck out nine on opening day to earn the victory. He limited the Hawks offense to five hits over his five innings of work.

Records Update
» Mercer: 1-0
» Maryland-Eastern Shore: 0-1

Pitchers of Record
» Win: Tanner Hall (1-0)
» Loss: Dwayne Marshall (0-1)

Notables
» Mercer improves to 4-0 all-time against Maryland-Eastern Shore.
» With Coach Craig Gibson leading the team, the Bears improved to 14-3 in season openers.
» In his second career at-bat, Colby Thomas hit his first career home run.
» The Bears opened the season scoring 13 runs. The last time the Bears scored 13 runs in a season opener was the 2018 season.
» After missing the 2019 season, Brandon Michie returned in a big way was he went 2-for-4 on the night and drove in four runs. In the sixth inning, he hit his first home run of the season.
» The Bears had seven extra-base hits against the Hawks on opening day.
» Tanner Hall recorded nine strikeouts on the day, which is a career high. His previous best was eight, which was set last season against Western Carolina.

Up Next
» Mercer: Hosts Maryland-Eastern Shore (1/5 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 15 at OrthoGeorgia Park)
» Maryland-Eastern Shore: At Mercer (1/5 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 15 at OrthoGeorgia Park)

Follow the Bears
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