Delano Shines as Mercer Defeats Marshall

Friday, March 12

Macon, Ga.

6 p.m.

Mercer University

5-7

Marshall

1-4

Marshall

Mercer

Photo by: Mitch Robinson

3/12/2021 10:45:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

Garett Delano tallied a career-high 11 strikeouts on the night

By: Travis Rae

MACON, Ga. – Behind a dominant starting performance by Garett Delano, the Mercer Bears opened up their three-game series against Marshall with a 3-1 victory. Delano was almost untouchable over the first seven innings as he only allowed two hits and tallied a career-high 11 strikeouts.

Delano's night was not limited to the mound as he led the Bears with two hits in the series opener. Six different players picked up a hit for Mercer. Colby Thomas led the team with three RBI. Following the outing by Delano was Luke Sutko, who closed out the final two innings game. He picked up his first save and recorded three punch-outs.

Delano's night started with a walk to the leadoff hitter, his only walk issued for the night. Following the walk, he tallied his first punch out of the night. After he got a line out for the second out, Collin Price threw out Geordon Blanton trying to steal second base to end the inning.

The Bears looked to get going in the bottom of the second inning as Delano led off with a double to right-center. However, he would be stranded on base as the Bears did not get another hit in the inning.

Marshall picked up its first hit of the night in the top of the third when Cyrus Grimes singled to center field. After allowing the hit, Delano settled right back in and retired the next three hitters he faced. He got Blanton to strikeout to end the inning.

The bats got hot for the Bears in the bottom of the fourth inning. Price and Delano picked up singles through the right side. Angelo DiSpigna laid down a bunt towards third, which the third baseman let roll and everyone was safe on the play. With the bases loaded, Colby Thomas connected and hit what looked to be a grand slam, but he passed the runner on first and was called out. Thomas was credited with a single and three RBI.

Over the next three innings, Delano was dealing. He got two looking strikeouts in the fourth, two swinging strikeouts in the fifth, and one of each in the seventh inning. He retired seven in a row before allowing the Thundering Herd's second hit of the day.

Coming out of the pen to relieve Delano was Sutko. Sutko continued to sit the Thundering Herd down as in the top of the eighth, he tallied two punch-outs of his own.

Sutko came out for the top of the ninth inning when he got the first batter to fly out to right field. He ran into a little trouble as the next two hitters picked up a double and single putting runners on the corners. Zach Inskeep followed with a single, which scored one, cutting the Bears lead down to two. Sutko got the next two hitters out on a fly out to left and a strikeout to close the game and put the Bears in the win column.

Coach Gibson's Take
"This was the 'Garett Delano Show' tonight. You can't say enough about him as a good team comes here from a great league, and he dominated them with 11 punch outs. Luke Sutko was good at the end of the game. I think Jeff Waggoner has a great club, I am excited we get to play them. Friday night's crowd was a great environment."

Records Update
» Mercer: 5-7
» Marshall: 1-4

Pitchers of Record
» Win: Garett Delano (1-0)
» Loss: Raymond Pacella (0-1)
» Save: Luke Sutko (1)

Notables
» Garett Delano made his first start on the mound for the Bears and went seven innings. He tallied a career-high 11 strikeouts in the contest.
» Mercer picked up five of its seven hits in the fourth inning.
» Luke Sutko closed out the game for the Bears and picked up his first save of the season.
» Not only did Delano have a great day on the mound, but he led the team with two hits in the game. He picked up a single and a double.
» Mercer continued to add to its double total on the season. Following tonight's game, Mercer now has 28 doubles on the season.
» Colby Thomas picked up all three RBI for the Bears. Thomas leads Mercer with 10 RBI on the season.
» The Bears pitching staff continued to dominate on the mound as they tallied 14 punch-outs on the night. Mercer's pitching staff has six games with 10 or more strikeouts.
» Mercer improves to 5-2 against the Thundering Herd in program history. Mercer has won four straight.

Up Next
» Mercer: vs. Marshall (12 p.m. Saturday, March 13 at OrthoGeorgia Park)
» Marshall: at Mercer (12 p.m. Saturday, March 13 at OrthoGeorgia Park)

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