Michie Delivers Clutch Hit Leading Bears to Win

Friday, March 19

Macon, Ga.

6 p.m.

Mercer University

8-9

Bradley

5-5

Bradley

Mercer

Photo by: Mitch Robinson

Michie Delivers Clutch Hit Leading Bears to Win

3/19/2021 10:45:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

Michie leads the Bears to their third straight win

By: Travis Rae

MACON, Ga. – Brandon Michie provided the heroics for Mercer baseball as his RBI single in the eighth sent Mercer on its way to an 11-9 victory over Bradley on Friday at OrthoGeorgia Park.

With two outs and the bases loaded in a tie game, Michie stepped to the plate. With a 2-1 count, he singled to left field putting Mercer ahead, 11-9. The Bears retired Bradley in order in the ninth inning and came away with the 11-9 victory.

Coming out of the pen in the contest was Taylor Lobus, who pitched five innings against the Braves. He allowed only three hits in the game and picked up the win for Mercer. A trio of Bears – RJ Yeager, Michie, and Colby Thomas – led the team with two hits each.

Mercer's bats exploded in the bottom of the first inning. Bill Knight led off with a hit by pitch and Yaeger and Collin Price followed with back-to-back singles. With the bases loaded, Garett Delano stepped to the plate. He worked the count to 2-2 before he hit his third bomb and his first grand slam of the season.

The hits continued for Mercer as it picked up two more before the Braves recorded an out. With one out, David Burke doubled down the left field line, which scored one and pushed the Mercer lead to 5-0. After Burke's hit, the Braves made a pitching change. Trevor Austin drew a walk, which loaded the bases. Knight stepped up and was hit by his second pitch of the inning putting Mercer ahead, 6-0.

The Braves bats started to come to life in the top of the second. With one out and runners on first and second, Carson Husmann singled that scored one. TJ Manteufel followed with a double that scored two more putting Mercer's lead down to three, 6-3.

Mercer continued to score runs in the bottom of the second inning. After back-to-back walks, Thomas hit a double to right field that scored one. Angelo DiSpigna followed with a single that plated the eighth run of the game for Mercer. The Bears scored one more in the inning and led 9-3 after two innings of play.

The Braves continued to chip away at the Bears lead and scored two runs in the third inning on two solo home runs and two more runs in the fourth on back-to-back singles. After four innings of play, Mercer led 9-7.

Following the second inning, the Braves pitching limited the Bears at the plate, and, in the top of the sixth inning, Bradley tied the game at nine. With one on and one out, Jackson Chatterton hit a home run down the right field line tying the game. Following the home run, Brendan Dougherty walked but was left stranded on base.

Neither team got any offense going until the bottom of the eighth inning. In that frame, Trevor Austin walked to start the inning and moved to second on a sac bunt by Knight. Yeager followed with a single to put runners on the corners. After the second out of the inning, Delano drew a walk loading the bases. Michie came up clutch and hit an opposite-field single and Mercer took an 11-9 lead.

Needing three outs, Lobus was up to the task. He got the first hitter out on a ground ball to first base. The following two batters, Lobus struck out to end the game and pick up the win. The win is the Bears third straight.

Coach Gibson's Take
"This was a great Friday night game. Give Bradley credit as we jumped out early and they fought back, like a good club would do. You have to give our guys some credit as Taylor Lobus was outstanding out of the pen tonight. I can't say enough about Brandon Michie as he came up with the big hit with two outs and it came off a great arm out of the pen. We will be ready for the final two games of the series."

Records Update
» Mercer: 8-9
» Bradley: 5-5

Pitchers of Record
» Win: Taylor Lobus (2-2)
» Loss: Troy Hickey (0-2)

Notables
» Brandon Michie continued to stay hot at the plate as he went two-for-four. His biggest hit of the day was his single in the bottom of the eighth the plated go-ahead runs.
» Mercer's bats exploded in the bottom of the first as Mercer scored six runs. The six-run inning for Mercer ties the most they have scored in a single inning this season.
» Coming out of the pen, Taylor Lobus picked up his second win of the year by tossing five innings of three-hit ball. He had six strikeouts.
» Eight different batters picked up a hit in the game. RJ Yeager, Michie, and Colby Thomas led the team with two hits each.
» Mercer had two more doubles in the game, adding to its league-leading number. Mercer now has 36 doubles on the season.
» Garett Delano hit his third home run of the season in the first inning, which was a grand slam and put the Bears ahead 4-0.
» Mercer has hit 20 home runs on the season and have four tied for the team lead with three each.
» Mercer improved to 4-3 all-time against Bradley.

Up Next
» Mercer: vs. Bradley (2 p.m. Saturday, March 20 at OrthoGeorgia Park (DH))
» Bradley: at Mercer (2 p.m. Saturday, March 20 at OrthoGeorgia Park (DH))

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