Bears Fall to UNCG in SoCon Tournament

Friday, May 26

Greenville, S.C.

7:30 p.m.

Mercer University

33-25

UNC Greensboro

25-33

UNC Greensboro

Mercer

5/26/2023 11:14:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

Mercer finishes the season 33-25

By: Amanda Cover

GREENVILLE, S.C. – The Mercer baseball program fell to No. 6 UNCG, 9-5, in an elimination game at the 2023 Southern Conference Baseball Championship presented by Holston Gases. The Bears finish the season 33-25.

HOW IT HAPPENED
Fred Wilson opened the game with a strikeout on his way to retiring the side in the first. The Bears picked off Mitchell Smith between first and second base, minimizing the damage of Caleb Cozart's home run that followed. UNCG grabbed two more runs on an RBI double.

The Bears loaded the bases in the second as Carter Sanford walked and advanced to second on a throwing error on an attempted fielder's choice as Trevor Austin reached first; Jackson Cherry singled to advance the runners. Ty Dalley stepped up to the plate and cleared the bases with a grand slam, marking his 18^th home run of the season to give the Bears the lead.

TOURNAMENT GRAND SLAMS HIT DIFFERENT‼️ @TDalley11

B2 | Mercer 4, UNCG 3#GoodToGreat || #WinnersWin pic.twitter.com/EXbyCwNgxs
— Mercer Baseball (@MercerBaseball) May 27, 2023

UNCG tied the score at four apiece in the third, but Wilson retired the side with two strikeouts and a fly out in the fourth. Micah Takac entered in relief in the fifth and put the batters down in order, finishing with a strikeout of Smith.

Mercer took the lead by one in the fifth with a fielder's choice by Sanford to plate Jozsef Rohrbacher who reached on a double. This was his third double of the day after hitting two against The Citadel in the earlier game.

The Spartans responded with a five-run sixth to retake the lead, 9-5. Josh Harlow entered on the bump and recorded 2.2 scoreless innings, only allowing one hit and striking out four batters.

Nice lil K from @JoshHarlow10 😮‍💨#GoodToGreat || #WinnersWin pic.twitter.com/LwwdkDeJQ3
— Mercer Baseball (@MercerBaseball) May 27, 2023

Hughes and Rohrbacher were walked in the ninth, but Mercer could not put together enough plays to score any more.

NOTES

Ty Dalley hit his 18^th home run of the season. It was Mercer's fifth grand slam of the season.
Treyson Hughes finished with a 20-game hitting streak and reached base in 24-straight games. His hitting streak is the longest active in the SoCon.
Jozsef Rohrbacher reached base in 20-straight games.
Jackson Cherry reached base in 11-straight games.

SCORING SUMMARY
T2 | Mercer 0, UNCG 1                  Cozart homered to left field.
T2 | Mercer 0, UNCG 3                  Bott doubled to left field, scoring Jonas and Callahan.
B2 | Mercer 4, UNCG 3                 Dalley homered to left center, scoring Sanford (unearned), Austin, and Cherry.
T3 | Mercer 4, UNCG 4                  Cozart doubled to center field, scoring Jenkins.
B5 | Mercer 5, UNCG 4                 Rohrbacher scored on a fielder's choice.
T6 | Mercer 5, UNCG 5                  Jonas singled through the right side, scoring Jenkins.
T6 | Mercer 5, UNCG 7                  Callahan doubled to right center, scoring Cozart and Jonas.
T6 | Mercer 5, UNCG 8                  Jones doubled to left field, scoring Callahan.
T6 | Mercer 5, UNCG 9                  Budzik flied out to fight field, scoring Cerda.

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