Spring Cleaning in New Jersey

Saturday, April 2

South Orange, NJ

1 P.M.

Mercer University

23-5

Seton Hall University

5-20

Mercer

Seton Hall

Photo by: Mitch Robinson

4/2/2022 8:11:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

Bears sweep the Seton Hall Pirates in South Orange

By: Jake List

SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. – Colby Thomas hit three home runs in a doubleheader to lead Mercer to a pair of wins Saturday and series sweep of Seton Hall at Owen T. Carroll Field. The Bears won the first game of the day, 7-1, and then rolled to a 14-2 victory in the nightcap.

Thomas blasted his team-leading 10^th, 11^th and 12^th home runs of the season in the twinbill.

The Valdosta native hit a 3-run bomb that put Mercer (24-5) ahead 5-0 in the fourth inning of the first game. He then led off the second game of the day with a solo shot. Thomas belted another 3-run homer in the ninth inning of the final game.

The Bears again received strong efforts from its pitching staff to earn the series sweep.

Ryan Lobus (4-1) struck out seven, walked one and allowed an unearned run in 5.2 innings to pick up the win in the day's opener.

Josh Farmer (4-0) fanned six and gave up only one run in 6.0 innings to receive the win in the quality start.

In the first game of the day, the Bears had a 2-0 lead before Thomas' 3-run blast busted the game wide open.

Seton Hall (5-21) scored its lone run in the bottom of the fourth.

Mercer added a run in the sixth on Bill Knight's sacrifice fly and another in the seventh as Holton McGaha scored on the throw down to second as Antonio Brown swiped the bag.

In the nightcap, the Bears took a 4-1 lead into the eighth inning, when the offense erupted for seven runs on six hits. Thomas then went deep again in the ninth to push the advantage to 14-1. The Pirates pushed across the final run of the game in the bottom of the ninth.

Thomas drove in seven runs with his three homers on the day. Knight added four hits, while William Mapes had four RBIs, including three in the second game.

The Bears will continue its road swing Tuesday with a stop at Charleston Southern. First pitch is scheduled for 5 p.m.

Finals:

𝐁𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐒 𝐖𝐈𝐍!! 

Heading home with a weekend SWEEP 🧹🧹🧹

Serious question, are we allowed to bring brooms on the plane??#WinnersWin | #LightTheBridge pic.twitter.com/J3DIBXxPcT
— Mercer Baseball (@MercerBaseball) April 3, 2022

𝐁𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐒 𝐖𝐈𝐍!! 

We claim the series and will go for the sweep in game 3!#WinnersWin | #LightTheBridge pic.twitter.com/xSGRigIx6Z
— Mercer Baseball (@MercerBaseball) April 2, 2022

Up Next: » Mercer: vs. The Citadel (6 p.m., Friday, April 8th in Macon, Ga.) » Seton Hall vs. Princeton (4 p.m., Wednesday, April 6th South Orange, NJ.) 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.