Stunning the Seminoles

Tuesday, March 1

Macon, Ga.

6 P.M.

Mercer University

8-1

Florida State University

5-3

Florida State

Mercer

3/1/2022 10:30:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

Mercer comes back from five down to knock off No. 10 Florida State

By: Will Vaught

MACON, Ga. – Erasing a 5-1 deficit from the fifth inning, Mercer staged a comeback to stun No. 10 Florida State 6-5 at OrthoGeorgia Park on Tuesday night.

The visiting Seminoles put five on the board in a three-inning stretch in which they capitalized on a couple of miscues by Mercer.

In the home half of the fifth, William Mapes started the comeback when he crossed home on a passed ball by the Seminole catcher to tack on the second run of the game. Trevor Austin chipped away further at the deficit when he jacked a solo shot to right-center to make it a 5-3 game.

The Bears knotted things at five in the ninth when they added a pair on the board from a Jozsef Rohrbacher RBI single that scored Austin. On the very next at-bat, Wesley Franklin crossed home on an E4. With a chance to win with bases loaded and just one out, Mercer stranded them as they went to extra innings.

Florida State and Mercer traded 3-up-3-down innings in the 10^th before the Seminoles stranded the winning run in their half of the 11^th.

COACH GIBSON'S THOUGHTS

"Great chemistry, great fight."

Hear @CraigGibson_MU's thoughts after the W over No. 10 Florida State. @ApparelAuth pic.twitter.com/EaUX0IZ19E
— Mercer Baseball (@MercerBaseball) March 2, 2022

Come the bottom of the 11^th, the Bears were ready to call game. With the bases loaded and just one out, Bill Knight roped a walkoff single to center that drove in Rohrbacher for the winning run.

Luke Sutko (1-0) picked up the win for the Bears in 2.2 innings tossed where he fanned four and yielded a single hit. FSU's Jackson Baumeister was charged with the loss after surrendering the winning run in 1.1 innings pitched.

The win was Coach Craig Gibson's first over the Seminoles, snapping a 27-game skid to FSU.

Records Update: » Mercer: 8-1 » FSU: 5-3-0 Pitchers of Record: » Win: Luke Sutko (2-0) » Loss: Jackson Baumeister (0-1) Up Next: » Mercer: vs. UNC Asheville (6 p.m., Friday, March 4 at OrthoGeorgia Park) » Florida State: vs. California (7 p.m., Friday, March 4 in Tallahassee, Fla.) 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.