Baseball Splits Doubleheader With Samford

Friday, April 23

Birmingham, Ala.

2:30 p.m. ET (1:30 p.m. CT)

Mercer University

21-16, 8-5

Samford

23-15, 13-3

Mercer

Samford

Photo by: Mitch Robinson

4/23/2021 11:40:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

Bears tallied 12 extra-base hits with seven home runs

By: Travis Rae

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Mercer Baseball team split a doubleheader with Southern Conference opponent Samford on Friday. Mercer dropped one game, 10-9, before bouncing back and winning game two, 12-5. The win in game two snapped a four-game conference losing streak.

Game 1
Mercer got off to a fast start in game one, as Bill Knight led off the game with a double and proceeded to third on a wild pitch. With one out, Garett Delano helped himself out with an RBI single. Collin Price followed with a double of his own, scoring Delano, and Mercer led 2-0.

It looked as if the Bulldogs would get the offense going in the bottom of the first inning. After a leadoff single and a fly out, Sonny DiChiara singled, putting runners on the corners. Tyler McManus drew a walk, loading the bases with one out, but Delano settled in and retired the next two hitters.

The Orange & Black extended the lead in the top of the second inning when David Burke hit his first career home run.

In the top of the third inning, Mercer's bats got hot as the Bears blasted four home runs. RJ Yeager led off the inning with a solo home run to left field. Price tallied a single between two strikeouts before Bears hit back-to-back-to-back home runs. Colby Thomas hit the first, a two run shot, followed by Angelo DiSpigna's solo home run to right field. Burke capped off the homer party with his second home run of the game. After two and a half innings, Mercer led 8-0.

Brooks Carlson got the Bulldogs on the board in the third with a solo home run to center field. After the homer, Delano settled down and did not allow a hit the rest of the inning.

After the Bulldogs cooled off the Bears' bats, Samford started to heat up. The Bulldogs took advantage of three Mercer errors and had six hits in an inning that saw the Bulldogs score eight runs and take a 9-8 lead over the visiting Bears.

Mercer battled back in the top of the seventh inning. With one out, Price got the Bears going with a single down the left field line. After the second out of the inning, Thomas drew a walk, and DiSpigna was hit by a pitch loading the bases. Le Bassett came up to the plate as a pinch hitter and roped a single to left to Price, but Thomas as thrown out at the plate trying to score ending the inning.

Samford responded quickly in the bottom of the seventh inning. With two outs and runners on first and second, McManus knocked an RBI single to left field, putting the Bulldogs ahead 10-9. Over the final two innings, Mercer could not get anything going off the Bulldogs' pitching and only tallied one hit. Mercer dropped game one, 10-9.

Game 2
Mercer struck early in game two. With one out, Yeager singled and Michie was hit by a pitch, putting two runners on. Delano followed with a double down the left field line, scoring one and putting runners on second and third. DiSpigna came to the plate and struck out, but he reached third base on a wild pitch, loading the bases. Thomas joined the party with a two-bagger of his own that scored two, putting Mercer ahead 3-0. Mercer scored one additional run on a fielder's choice and had a 4-0 lead after the top of the first.

Mercer's starter, Jackson Kelley, came in and retired the first two batters he faced before allowing a double. Following the double, he got McManus to foul out to first base to end the inning. Kelley continued to keep the Bulldogs off balance and got the first two batters in the second to strike out swinging before allowing a single. He closed out the inning by fanning Will David.

Samford got to Kelley in the bottom of the third. Taylor Garris reached on a hit by pitch before Kelley tallied a strike out. Brooks followed with a single, putting two on base. The Bulldogs worked the counts and drew back-to-back walks, the second leading to a run. Ryan Crockett followed with a single that scored the second run of the inning. With the bases loaded, the Bulldogs drew another bases loaded run and the Bears' lead was down to one, 4-3.

Mercer got two of the runs back in the top of the fourth inning. Trevor Austin led off with a walk and Knight followed with a fly ball to right field, which the Bulldogs right fielder dropped, putting a Bear on second and third. Austin came into score on a wild pitch, making the score 5-3 in favor of Mercer. After the first out of the inning, Michie doubled down the right field line, scoring one and increasing Mercer's lead to 6-3.

In the bottom of the fifth inning, the Bulldogs scored two runs on three hits. David picked up the first RBI on a double to right center and scored on a Garris single.

After a scoreless sixth inning, the Bears extended their lead to two, 7-5. With two outs, DiSpigna came smacked a solo home run over the right field fence for his first homer of the game and second of the day.

Samford got a leadoff double in the bottom of the eighth inning off Josh Farmer, and the batter went to third on a ground out. Farmer then got a pop out for the second out of the inning. With one on and two out, the Bears intentionally walked DiChiara, putting runners on the corner. McManus came up to face Farmer and worked himself to a full count. Farmer locked in and got a strike out to end the frame.

The Bears added an insurance run in the top of the ninth inning. Michie opened the frame with an opposite field bomb, putting the Bears ahead 8-5. Mercer continued to look for more runs as Delano singled up the middle and went to second on a sac bunt. After the second out of the inning, pinch hitter Burke drew a walk putting two on for Price.

Price was hit by a pitch, which loaded the bases for Trevor Austin. The Bears scored their ninth run of the game on a bases loaded hit by pitch. The tenth and eleventh runs of the game scored back-to-back wild pitches. Mercer continued to add the lead and scored their third run in a row on a wild pitch, growing the lead 12-5.

Josh Farmer, who came in during the fifth inning, came out for the ninth and got the final three outs and Mercer won 12-5 in game two.

Hear from Coach Gibson

.@CraigGibson_MU talks about the doubleheader split with Samford on Friday. #WinnersWin | #RoarTogether pic.twitter.com/74T1yLAWAn
— Mercer Baseball (@MercerBaseball) April 24, 2021

Records Update
» Mercer: 22-16, 9-5 SoCon
» Samford: 23-16, 13-4 SoCon

Pitchers of Record
Game 1
» Win: Carson Cupo (6-0)
» Loss: Luke Sutko (2-3)
» Save: Chase Isbell (6)

Game 2
» Win: Josh Farmer (4-0)
» Loss: Jesse McCord (3-5)

Notables
» For the third time this season, the Bears had a player hit multiple home runs in a contest. David Burke hit his first two career home runs in game one.
» Following the one run loss in game one, Mercer dropped to 2-6 in one run games during the 2021 season.
» The bats exploded for seven home runs on the day. Mercer hit five in the first game with three coming on back-to-back-to-back shots.
» With the win in game two, Mercer snapped a four game SoCon losing streak.
» Collin Price led the Bears with four hits in the game. Four players followed with three hits in the games.
» Josh Farmer came out of the pen in game two and pitched 4.1 innings and limited the Bulldogs to four hits.
» Mercer's pitching staff tallied 14 strikeouts on the day, with Jackson Kelley leading the way with six.

Up Next
» Mercer: at Samford (12:30 p.m. ET Saturday, April 24 at Joe Lee Griffin Field)
» Samford: vs. Mercer (12:30 p.m. ET Saturday, April 24 at Joe Lee Griffin Field)

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.