Baseball Falls in Slugfest to Southern Illinois

Friday, February 26

Macon, Ga.

6 p.m.

Mercer University

3-2

Southern Illinois

5-0

Southern Illinois

Mercer

Photo by: Mitch Robinson

Baseball Falls in Slugfest to Southern Illinois

2/26/2021 11:05:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

Mercer hits three home runs in the loss

By: Travis Rae

MACON, Ga. – The Mercer baseball team dropped the first game of a three-game set with Southern Illinois on Friday. Mercer was outhit 17-12 in the contest and the Bears dropped the contest 17-7.

At the plate, Angelo DiSpigna and Garett Delano led the team with three hits each. Colby Thomas and Brandon Michie followed with a pair of two-hit nights. Mercer collected a season-high 12 hits in the game, six of which went for extra bases.

Southern Illinois came out swinging early in the contest as they picked up three straight hits to open the game. They scored two runs in the top of the first taking a 2-0 lead.

Mercer battled back early in the contest. Colby Thomas led off the bottom of the first with a single and Before DiSpigna reached on a double. RJ Yeager and Michie followed with back-to-back sac flies tying the game.

The Salukis bats remained hot in the second inning as they hit two home runs and extended their lead to 6-2 over Mercer. Following the top half of the frame, SIU's starter settled in and did not let the Bears get their bats going over the next five innings. During that stretch, the Salukis extended their lead to eight runs at 10-2.

After the Salukis went to the pen, the Mercer bats got hot in the bottom of the seventh inning. With one out, Thomas hit his first long ball of the season to cur Mercer's deficit to 10-3. After a DiSpigna single, Yeager and Michie hit back-to-back doubles and Mercer found themselves down five, 10-5.

Southern Illinois again extended its lead in the top of the eighth inning after a two-run home run by J.T. Weber. Mercer scored two of their own in the bottom of the frame. Garett Delano and Ryan Archibald hit back-to-back home runs for Mercer.

Southern Illinois tacked on five more in the top of the ninth and Mercer could not get anything going in the bottom of the frame and were defeated 17-7.

Coach Gibson's Take
"Tip your cap to Southern Illinois, that is how you go and win on the road. Southern Illinois is a good club from a good league and we expected it. I am proud of our guys as we got behind early and we battled back. We had some pitchers come in that hadn't pitched this season and I am proud of the way they threw the ball. It will be interesting to see how we respond tomorrow. Tomorrow is a big day for us."

Records Update
» Mercer: 3-2
» Southern Illinois: 5-0

Pitchers of Record
» Win: Mike Hansell (1-0)
» Loss: Jackson Kelley (1-1)

Notables
» The Bears had six extra-base hits in the contest, with three doubles and three home runs.
» Freshman Colby Thomas, who led the team with five home runs last season, hit his first home run of the season.
» Southern Illinois recorded 17 hits in the game and of those 17 hits, 10 were extra-base hits.
» Spencer Borgel, Zach Turner and Declan Champey all made their Bear debuts on the mound.
» Mercer collected 12 hits in the contest, the most in a single game this season.
» Garett Delano hit his first home run of the season and went three-for-four at the plate. He was tied with Angelo DiSpigna for most hits on the team on Friday night.

Up Next
» Mercer: vs. Southern Illinois (2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 27 at OrthoGeorgia Park)
» Southern Illinois: at Mercer (2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 27 at OrthoGeorgia Park)

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.