Bears Drop Friday Matchups With Indiana, No. 10 Florida

Friday, March 15

Gainesville, Fla.

3:30 p.m.

Mercer University

9-13

Indiana

21-4

Mercer

Indiana

Bears Drop Friday Matchups With Indiana, No. 10 Florida

3/15/2024 9:36:00 PM | Softball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

By: Todd Anderson, anderson_t02@mercer.edu

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The Mercer softball team scored runs in bunches to grab leads in each of their Friday outings at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium on the University of Florida campus, but red-hot Indiana and 10th-ranked Florida both rallied to thwart the upset-minded Bears.

MU (9-14) scored a trio of runs in the second inning to take an early lead on Indiana (21-4) and the nation's 10^th-ranked pitching staff, but the Hoosiers rallied for a trio of runs in both the third and sixth innings to prevail, 8-4. Tori Hedgecock's 2-run blast in the top of the first inning gave the Orange & Black a quick lead on nationally-ranked Florida (23-4), but the Gators answered with 10 unanswered runs to steal all of the momentum.

Redshirt sophomore Hannah Pitts (1-4) saddled the loss against the Hoosiers. Sophomore Grace Taylor (4-5) absorbed the loss in the nightcap with the Gators.

SUMMARY
GAME 1 FINAL	Indiana 8, Mercer 4
PITCHERS	WP: Sophie Kleiman (7-0) LP: Hannah Pitts (1-4)

GAME 2 FINAL	No. 10 Florida 10, Mercer 2 (6 Innings)
PITCHERS	WP: Keagan Rothrock (10-3) LP: Grace Taylor (4-5)

RECORDS	Mercer (9-14); Indiana (21-4); Florida (23-4)

KEY INNINGS VS. INDIANA
TOP 2	Megan Loughren gave the Bears the lead on a 2-out RBI double that plated Emma Dorval from second base, then made it a 2-0 advantage on a costly 2-out error by the Indiana infield. Avery Barton's full-count RBI single up the middle two batters later gave MU a three-run advantage.
BOT 3	Sarah Stone (walk) and Aly VanBrandt (single) both reached with one-out showing to get something going for the Hoosiers, and Avery Parker followed with a 3-run homer five pitches later that gave IU the lead for good.

KEY INNINGS VS. FLORIDA
TOP 1	Janessa Plummer drew a 1-out walk to give the Bears their first baserunner of the evening, and Tori Hedgecock followed with a 2-run blast over the left field wall to give Mercer the early advantage.
BOT 2	Katie Kistler absorbed a bean ball to lead off the frame, used a passed ball and a wild pitch, respectively, to move all the way around to third base, and then crossed the plate with the game-tying run on a RBI groundout.
BOT 4	The first two Gators went down in order to start the frame, but Florida used its next three at-bats to load the bases, and then scored the go-ahead run when Korbe Otis drew a full-count walk.

MU LEADERS VS. IU	IU LEADERS VS. MERCER
Alyssa Woods 2-5, 2B Emma Dorval 2-4, R Megan Loughren 1-4, 2B, RBI Avery Barton 1-2, 2 BB, RBI	Taylor Minnick 3-4, 3 RBI Aly VanBrandt 3-4, R Alex Cooper 2-3, HR Avery Parker 1-3, HR, 3 RBI

MU LEADERS VS. UF	UF LEADERS VS. MERCER
Tori Hedgecock 1-1, 2 BB, HR, 2 RBI Avery Barton 1-2	Ariel Kowalewski 2-4, 2B, HR, 5 RBI Korbe Otis 1-2, 2 BB, 2B, 2 RBI Skylar Wallace 1-1, 2 BB, 2 R Keagan Rothrock 6.0 IP, 2 H, 11 K

UP NEXT
The Bears will snap the lid on a nearly month-long stretch away from home when they rematch with Indiana (21-4) on Saturday at Katie Seashole Pressly Stadium. First pitch is scheduled for noon.

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