Baseball Defeats In-State Foe Georgia State

Tuesday, May 11

Atlanta, Ga.

6 p.m.

Mercer University

31-17

Georgia State

12-35

Mercer

Georgia State

Photo by: Mitch Robinson

5/11/2021 10:17:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

Mercer won its sixth straight game with a 7-4 win on Tuesday

By: Travis Rae

ATLANTA – The Mercer baseball team won its sixth straight contest with a 7-4 victory over in-state foe Georgia State on Tuesday evening. The win moves Mercer to 6-2 against in-state opponents this season.

Bill Knight led the Bears at the plate as he went 4-for-5 on the night. He was the only Bear to have a multi-hit contest. Coming off the bench, Jordan Ammons hit a three-run home run in the ninth inning to extend the Bears' home run hitting streak to 13 consecutive games.

Taylor Lobus tossed two shutout innings in relief and tallied four Ks en route to his eighth win of the season. Luke Sutko closed out the game and picked up his ninth save of the season.

Mercer looked to get the scoring in the top of the second inning. Facing Trey Horton, the Bears' first three batters reached in the inning, two on walks and one after being hit by a pitch. After loading the bases, the Mercer's next three hitters were retired.

Bill Knight opened the third inning with a double to left-center for the first hit of the night for the Bears. He advanced to third base on a groundout by Angelo DiSpinga. Knight was left stranded on third base after the next two Bears were retired.

Mercer's pitching was dominate in the early innings of the non-conference contest as the staff held the Panthers to two hits over the first five innings of play. Georgia State picked up hits in the third and fourth innings.

After Knight's second hit of the day, Mercer was held hitless until the top of the sixth inning. With two outs, Collin Price doubled off the wall in left-field. Mercer went to the bench and called upon Colby Thomas to hit. Thomas worked the count to 2-2 before he flew out to the left field fence ending the inning.

After the second shutout inning out of the pen for Taylor Lobus, the Bears came up in the seventh and took the lead. With one out, Knight smashed a triple to center field. With a runner in scoring position, DiSpigna hit a sacrifice fly, scoring Knight, and putting Mercer ahead, 1-0.

Mercer extended its lead to 3-0 in the top of the eighth inning. David Burke pinch hit for Le Bassett and drew a walk. Burke was pitch ran for by Antonio Brown, and Brown stole second base and advanced to third on a ground out. After Thomas reached on a hit by a pitch, which put runners on the corners, Trevor Austin singled home the second run of the inning. Thomas came into score on a rundown with Austin, and Mercer led, 3-0.

Georgia State got one run back in the bottom of the frame when Ryan Glass led off the inning with a solo home run to center field. After a strikeout swinging for the first out of the inning, the Panthers' DeAngelo Abboud singled up the middle. Mercer would go to the pen and bring in Luke Sutko. The SoCon leader in saves got the first batter he faced to strike out swinging, and Abboud was caught stealing when Price threw behind the runner for the final out of the inning.

Mercer stretched its lead back to three in the top of the ninth inning. Knight picked up his fourth hit of the game on a single to leadoff the inning. DiSpigna moved him to second on a sac bunt, and Garett Delano was intentionally walked. Brandon Michie followed with an RBI single up the middle that scored Knight.

After the second out of the inning, the Bears sent pinch hitter Jordan Ammons to the plate. He had the count in his favor, 2-0, and the next pitch he blasted over the center field fence for a three-run home run, extending the lead to 7-1.

The Panthers came out swinging in the bottom of the ninth inning. Josh Smith and Cameron Jones led off the inning with two infield singles. Elian Merejo cleared the bases with a double to right field, trimming the lead to four, 7-3. Following the RBI double, Sutko locked in and struck the next two hitters out, before Glass picked up an RBI on a single to make it a 7-4 game in Mercer's favor. Sutko struck out Kyle Riesselmann to end the game.

Hear from Coach Gibson

Head Coach @CraigGibson_MU talks about the win over Georgia State. #WinnersWin | #RoarTogether pic.twitter.com/kSPoEc5TSy
— Mercer Baseball (@MercerBaseball) May 12, 2021

Records Update
» Mercer: 31-17
» Georgia State: 12-35

Pitchers of Record
» Win: Taylor Lobus (8-3)
» Loss: Duncan Lutz (0-2)
» Save: Luke Sutko (9)

Notables
» Knight led the Bears at the plate as he had his first four hit game of the season and of his career.
» Ammons continued the homer streak for the Bears. He homered in the ninth inning making it 13 straight games with a homer.
» Mercer earned its sixth straight win with the 7-4 win over Georgia State.
» With the win , Mercer finished the season with a perfect 4-0 mark against Georgia State.
» Sutko picked up his league leading nine save on the season.
» Lobus picked up his 8^th win of the season, the most in the Southern Conference.
» The win for the Bears gives them 31 on the season. Mercer is four wins away from winning 35 games for the 11^th straight season.

Up Next
» Mercer: vs. The Citadel (6 p.m., Friday, May 14 at OrthoGeorgia Park)
» Georgia State: at Texas State (7 p.m., Friday, May 14 at Bobcat Ballpark)

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.