Hughes Walk-Off Home Run Finishes Two-Win Day

Saturday, March 4

Macon, Ga.

2 p.m.

Mercer University

Bellarmine University

Hughes Walk-Off Home Run Finishes Two-Win Day

3/4/2023 7:48:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

By: Amanda Cover

MACON, Ga. – The Mercer baseball program (8-4) earned two wins against Bellarmine (5-5) on Saturday afternoon at OrthoGeorgia Park. The first game finished 6-1, and the Bears won 4-3 in the second game thanks to a walk-off home run by Treyson Hughes. Both games of the doubleheader were seven innings.

GAME ONE
Both teams went scoreless in the first inning, but Mercer's offense dominated the second. An RBI single by Eli Runyan started the scoring as he brought home Reid Brown. Runyan crossed home plate on a double from Bradley Frye. A third run was added after Trevor Austin reached home while Jozsef Rohrbacher was called out at first.

Hughes went yard for his third home run of the year in the third to increase the lead to 4-0. In the final offensive frame for the Bears, Ty Dalley launched his second home run of the season, scoring Runyan.

Ryan Lobus (1-1) earned his first win of the season on the mound for the Bears after striking out a career-best nine batters in 5.1 innings. He allowed three hits, one run, and three walks. Jaxon O'Neal threw the final 1.2 innings and recorded two strikeouts, one hit, zero runs, and zero walks.

SCORING SUMMARY
B2 | Mercer 1, Bellarmine 0        Runyan singled to left center, scoring R. Brown.
B2 | Mercer 2, Bellarmine 0        Frye doubled to left field, scoring Runyan.
B2 | Mercer 3, Bellarmine 0        Austin scored on a fielder's choice.
B3 | Mercer 4, Bellarmine 0        Hughes homered to left center.
T4 | Mercer 4, Bellarmine 1         Back popped up to shortstop, scoring Crane.
B6 | Mercer 6, Bellarmine 1        Dalley homered to right center, scoring Runyan.

GAME TWO
Bellarmine opened the scoring in the top of the first, but each time the Knights added one, the Bears responded in the bottom of the inning. Dalley hit his second home run of the day in the bottom of the sixth to tie it up 3-3 heading into the final inning. The Knights failed to score in the top of the seventh, allowing Mercer to earn a walk-off win after Hughes' second home run of the day and fourth of the year.

Josh Farmer started on the mound for the Bears, earning five strikeouts in 5.1 innings. The redshirt senior posted six hits, two runs, and zero walks. Holton McGaha (2-0) entered in the sixth and kept the Knights scoreless in the seventh with two strikeouts.

SCORING SUMMARY
T1 | Mercer 0, Bellarmine 1         Sorg tripled to right center, scoring Scales.
B1 | Mercer 1, Bellarmine 1        Hughes singled to first base, scoring Rohrbacher.
T2 | Mercer 1, Bellarmine 2         Morse doubled to right field, scoring Dilz.
B2 | Mercer 2, Bellarmine 2        Frye scored on a fielder's choice.
T6 | Mercer 2, Bellarmine 3         Dilz singled to center field, scoring Back.
B6 | Mercer 3, Bellarmine 3        Dalley homered to right field.
B7 | Mercer 4, Bellarmine 3        Hughes homered to left field.

NOTES

Ty Dalley and Treyson Hughes both hit two home runs on the day, one in each game.
Dalley and Hughes each finished with three RBI for the day.
Hughes batted .500 (3-of-6) across the two games.
Nine strikeouts are a career-high for Ryan Lobus.

UP NEXT: Mercer concludes the series with Bellarmine on Sunday at 1 p.m.

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