Baseball Falls to Southern Illinois on Saturday

Saturday, February 27

Macon, Ga.

2 p.m.

Mercer University

3-3

Southern Illinois

6-0

Southern Illinois

Mercer

Photo by: Ben Murray

Baseball Falls to Southern Illinois on Saturday

2/28/2021 12:16:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

Mercer looks to snap its losing streak in Sunday’s series finale

By: Travis Rae

MACON, Ga. – The Mercer baseball team dropped its third straight game on Saturday afternoon as Southern Illinois defeated the Bears, 11-5, at OrthoGeorgia Park.

Five Bears tallied hits in the contest. A trio of Bears – Angelo DiSpigna, RJ Yeager and Garett Delano – each recorded a pair of hits. DiSpigna led the Bears with two RBI. The Bears blasted four home runs in the contest with three coming in the second inning.

Southern Illinois jumped ahead early in the contest, taking advantage of Bears' miscues on the mound. The Salukis first two hitters were hit by a pitch, and an intentional walk loaded the bases. After two RBI groundouts, the Salukis led 2-0. Southern Illinois added on more run on a J.T. Weber single, which grew to 4-0 in the top of the second on an RBI single by Ian Walters.

The Bears' bats came to life in the bottom of the second inning. Delano led off with a home run to left-center, and Ryan Archibald followed with a home run to the opposite side, blasting the ball over the way in right-center field. With Bears down 4-2, Price drew a walk and went to second on a wild pitch. With the Orange & Black down to their final out of the inning, DiSpigna hit a two-run home run to right field tying the contest at four.

With one out in the top of the fifth inning, Tristian Peters broke the tie via an RBI double to left field. Pinch hitter Vinni Massaglia came up and blasted a three-run shot over the fence in left field giving Southern Illinois a four-run advantage, 8-4.

The Bears went down in order in their half of the fifth but forced the Salukis to leave a pair of runners stranded in scoring position to start the sixth. After shutting down the Bears in the bottom of the sixth, SIU extended its advantage to 10-4 when Philip Archer hit a two-run blast to right field.

Mercer scored its final run in the bottom of the seventh inning when RJ Yeager hit a solo home run to left field. The Salukis final run in the 11-5 victory came when Weber's sacrifice fly plated Massaglia in the top of the ninth.

Coach Gibson's Take
"Southern Illinois is a good club. They have experienced hitters and pitchers and are a tough matchup in our ballpark. These games this weekend will make us better down the road. We are expecting to see SIU around the top of the Missouri Valley [Conference]. We still have one game left in the series, and we have to do a better job at stringing at-bats together, and we have to get through the first inning without giving up any runs."

Records Update
» Mercer: 3-3
» Southern Illinois: 6-0

Pitchers of Record
» Win: Tanner Lewis (1-0)
» Loss: Taylor Lobus (1-1)

Notables
» The Bears' bats exploded in the bottom of the second inning as the Bears hit three home runs with Delano and Archibald going back-to-back.
» Five Bears collected hits on the day with Angelo DiSpigna, RJ Yeager and Delano picking up two each.
» Mercer had five extra-base hits in the contest with four being home runs.
» David Moore came out of the pen and pitched an inning and two thirds and tallied four strikeouts.
» With Archibald's home run today, he has now hit a home run in the last two games. He leads the team with three.
»The Salukis bats remained hot in the series as they added two more home runs in game two. For the series, Southern Illinois has hit nine home runs.

Up Next
» Mercer: vs. Southern Illinois (1 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 28 at OrthoGeorgia Park)
» Southern Illinois: at Mercer (1 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 28 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.