Bears Sweep Maryland-Eastern Shore in Saturday DH

Saturday, February 15

Macon, Ga.

1 p.m.

Mercer University

2-0

Maryland - Eastern Shore

0-2

UMES

Mercer

Bears Sweep Maryland-Eastern Shore in Saturday DH

2/15/2020 10:17:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

Mercer improves to 3-0 after a doubleheader sweep

By: Travis Rae

MACON, Ga. – The Mercer baseball team improved to 3-0 on the season with a doubleheader sweep of Maryland-Eastern Shore on Saturday. The Bears took game one, 3-2, before closing out the day with a 5-1 victory.

Game One
For the first time this season, the Bears found themselves down in a contest. With two outs, Brian Cordell hit a solo home run to put the Hawks in front, 1-0. In the top of the third, Maryland-Eastern Shore tried to grow its lead. After Taylor Lobus recorded two outs, the Hawks had three reach base. However, Lobus got the next hitter to fly out to end the threat and leave the bases loaded.

The Bears' offense struggled to get anything going until the bottom of the fifth inning when Brandon Michie led off the inning with a single and stole second base with one out. Colby Thomas followed with a double to left field that tied the game. Trevor Austin drove home Thomas in the following at-bat with a triple to center field putting the Bears ahead, 2-1.

Making his first appearance as a Bear, Luke Sutko came in sat down the Hawks in order in the sixth. In his second inning of work, he got a strikeout before Coleman hit his second home run of the game to tie the game at 2-2.

Maryland-Eastern Shore had the first chance to break the tie. After two runners got on, Hunter Phillips relieved Sutko. Phillips walked the first hitter he faced to load the bases, but struck out the ensuing three hitters with the bases loaded to end the frame.

Mercer scored the go-ahead run in the bottom of the eighth inning. With two outs and runner on second, Anthony DiSpigna tripled down the right field line which to score Kyle Dockus and put the Bears ahead, 3-2.

The leadoff hitter reached for the Hawks in the ninth inning. He was bunted over to second to put the tying run in scoring position. After a hit batter put two on, Phillips locked in and strike out the next two ending the game and giving the Bears a 3-2 win.

Player of the Game
Hunter Phillips came in and recorded three strikeouts in the top of the eighth inning. With the three strikeouts, Phillips kept the game tied at 2-2 heading to the bottom of the frame. He continued to record strikeouts in the ninth inning as he had left two runs stranded in the frame.

Notables
» Mercer hit two triples in the win over Maryland-Eastern Shore. Both resulted in driving in a run.
» Angelo DiSpigna drove in the winning run with a triple in the bottom of the eighth inning.
» Colby Thomas and DiSpigna were the only Bears with a multi-hit game.
» The Bears pitching staff continued to throw strikes and recorded 11 strikeouts.
» In two innings of relief, Hunter Phillips recorded five strikeouts.
» The Bears continued to pick up extra base hits as they had three more in the first game of the doubleheader.

Pitchers of Record
» Win: Hunter Phillips (1-0)
» Loss: Cameron Bratton (0-1)

Game Two
Making his first start of the season, Jackson Kelley came out dealing as he did not allow a hit in the first inning. The Mercer offense came out in full force for Kelley as they gave him a lead in the bottom of the frame.

Thomas led off with a single and then stole second base. With one out, DiSpigna double to left center, which scored the first run of the game for the Bears. The next batter, Bill Knight, drove home DiSpigna. Later in the inning, Mercer looked to break the game open as they had the bases loaded and one out. The Bears got one more run in the frame as Trevor Austin hit into a fielder's choice that scored one, extending the lead to 3-0.

In the fourth inning, the Hawks got to Kelley for one run. Cordell singled up the middle that scored one.

Following the run, neither team got anything going offensively until the bottom of the sixth when DiSpigna hit a solo home run to right center. The Bears fifth run of the game came in the seventh inning. With two outs and a runner on third, Dockus singled to right center scoring RJ Yeager.

Jordan Farmer pitched three innings of relief for the Bears and limited the Hawks to two hits in the game while Tommy Green closed out the game, pitching a scoreless inning. Mercer defeated the Hawks 5-1 in game three of the series.

Player of the Game
DiSpigna led the Bears at the plate as he went 2-for-4. He collected a double and a home run in the contest and drove in two runs. DiSpigna doubled in the first driving in the first run of the game for the Bears. In the sixth inning, he hit his first home run of the season, extending the Bears lead to 4-1.

Notables
» Jackson Kelley went five innings and recorded eight strikeouts in his first start of the season.
» DiSpigna had two extra base hits in the second game. One was his first home run of the season.
» For the third straight contest, the Bears pitching staff recorded 10 or more strikeouts. In the third game of the series, the Bears had 11 strikeouts.
» Three Bears – DiSpigna, Michie and Dockus – all had three hits in the game.
» Freshman Colby Thomas had reached base safely in each of the Bears first three games.

Pitchers of Record
» Win: Jackson Kelley (1-0)
» Loss: Caleb Walston (0-1)

Coach Gibson's Take
"I don't think you can say enough about our pitching today. We had two quality starters, and I am really proud of Taylor Lobus and Jackson Kelley came out and gave us great outings. Our bullpen was unbelievable today. I am really proud of our pitchers."

Records Update
» Mercer: 3-0
» Maryland-Eastern Shore: 0-3

Up Next
» Mercer: Hosts Maryland-Eastern Shore (12 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 16 at OrthoGeorgia Park)
» Maryland-Eastern Shore: At Mercer (12 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 16 at OrthoGeorgia Park)

Follow the Bears
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