Mercer Opens Series with Win Over ETSU

Friday, April 14

Macon, Ga.

6 p.m.

Mercer University

22-13, 0

East Tennessee State University

15-16, 0

East Tennessee State

Mercer

4/14/2023 9:12:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

By: KC Wetherington

MACON, Ga. – The Mercer baseball program (22-13, 4-3) beat ETSU (15-16, 2-5), 5-3, on Friday night to open the weekend series.

Colton Cosper (3-2) started on the mound for the Bears and went for 6.2 innings, striking out five batters, throwing 107 pitches and only letting up two runs. Holton McGaha made an appearance on the mound and struck out two of four batters faced before Wes Franklin entered to close the game with his eighth save of the season.

CC is making sure we get home in time for dinner tonight 😮‍💨#GoodToGreat || #WinnersWin pic.twitter.com/ZTmJjWVWNT
— Mercer Baseball (@MercerBaseball) April 14, 2023

HOW IT HAPPENED
The first inning ended with the Bears feeling confident after three outs in a row with two runners left on base. The bottom of the first went quickly after Treyson Hughes was robbed of a single by the Bucs' second baseman who made a diving catch followed by two dropped third strikes turned into outs.

Joszef Rohrbacher led off the bottom of the second inning with a solo home run on the first pitch over the right field wall to get the Bears on the board. Both teams went scoreless in the third and fourth innings.

Right outta the gates @jozsefrohr 🐎

First pitch of the inning = JoRo Homer

B2 | Mercer 1, ETSU 0#GoodToGreat || #WinnersWin pic.twitter.com/qZpOZM5V5t
— Mercer Baseball (@MercerBaseball) April 14, 2023

In the top of the fifth inning, Cody Miller reached first on a bunt back to Cosper which set the Bears up for a double play followed by a fly out to center for a quick three up, three down, inning. Geier led off the bottom of the inning with a double to the right field wall followed by another double by Ty Dalley that scored Geier. Hughes hit the third double of the inning, sending Dalley across the plate. The Bucs got out of the inning with a strikeout, but the Bears already added damage and were up by three runs.

Dalley Double😀

B5 | Mercer 2, ETSU 0#GoodToGreat || #WinnersWin pic.twitter.com/hYSOemHus0
— Mercer Baseball (@MercerBaseball) April 14, 2023

𝕊𝔼𝔼𝕀ℕ𝔾 𝔻𝕆𝕌𝔹𝕃𝔼

Bears' second RBI double of the inning!

B5 | Mercer 3, ETSU 0#GoodToGreat || #WinnersWin pic.twitter.com/LfBsdCwndU
— Mercer Baseball (@MercerBaseball) April 14, 2023

The scoring for Mercer continued in the bottom of the sixth. Rohrbacher led off with a double to the left field wall. A single to center by Trevor Austin put runners on the corners and a passed ball scored Rohrbacher with Austin standing on second. A groundout by Geier put Austin in scoring position and another passed ball brought him across the plate before the Bucs were able to get out of the inning.

In the top of the seventh with two outs, Miller hit a two-run homer over the left field wall to put the Bucs on the board as Cosper was pushing the top of his pitch count. McGaha entered in relief and wrapped up the seventh inning before striking out two in the eighth. ETSU added another run in the ninth, but Franklin struck out the final batter to secure the win.

Make that 3 🆆's in a row for @ColtonCosper #GoodToGreat || #WinnersWin pic.twitter.com/q9vBZc3RXA
— Mercer Baseball (@MercerBaseball) April 15, 2023

NOTES

Six of Mercer's eight hits were extra base hits.
Mercer players put the ball in play on the first pitch of their plate appearances six times.
Colton Cosper threw 17.2 consecutive scoreless innings, including his past two starts, until giving up a home run in the seventh inning against ETSU.
Wesley Franklin earned his eighth save of the season. Entering today's game, he ranked seventh in Division I in saves.
Both of Treyson Hughes' hits were doubles.
Both of Jozsef Rohrbacher's hits were extra base hits (home run, double)
Mercer turned its 32^nd double play of the season on Friday. Entering today's game, this ranked seventh in Division I.
Friday's game lasted two hours and four minutes which is the quickest game for Mercer this season.

SCORING SUMMARY
B2| Mercer 1, ETSU 0                                   Rohrbacher homered to right field, RBI.
B5| Mercer 2, ETSU 0                                   Dalley doubled down the right field line, RBI; Geier scored.
B5| Mercer 3, ETSU 0                                   Hughes doubled down the right field line, RBI; Dalley scored.
B6| Mercer 4, ETSU 0                                   Rohrbacher scored on a passed ball, unearned.
B6| Mercer 5, ETSU 0                                   Austin scored on a passed ball, unearned.
T7| Mercer 5, ETSU 2                                   Miller homered over the left field wall, 2 RBI; Barth scored.
T9| Mercer 5, ETSU 3                                   C. Miller singled to left field, RBI; Paladino scored.

UP NEXT: Mercer and ETSU will play again on Saturday, April 15 at 2 p.m.

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