Lights-Out Bullpen, Big Fifth Inning Power Bears Over Owls

Wednesday, February 19

Marietta, Ga.

4 p.m.

Mercer University

3-1

Kennesaw State

1-4

Mercer

Kennesaw State

Lights-Out Bullpen, Big Fifth Inning Power Bears Over Owls

2/19/2025 8:05:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

By: Donovan Schultz, donovan.schultz@live.mercer.edu

KENNESAW, Ga. – After falling behind 4-0 in the first inning, the Mercer bullpen delivered 8-1/3 shutout innings and the Bears offense came through with a six-run fifth inning to help the Bears secure a midweek win over Kennesaw State on Wednesday night by a score of 9-4.

Ty Dalley (1-for-3) drove in three runs for the Bears, while Brant Baughcum and Titan Kamaka each tallied an RBI of their own. Jeb Johnson (1-0) picked up his first career win, tossing 3-1/3 scoreless innings with two hits, two walks and five strikeouts. Craig Kalkbrenner, Collin Ewaldsen, Kai Decker and Terry Busse all posted zeroes out of the Bears bullpen as well. Agyei Quinichett (0-1) took the loss for Kennesaw State.

The Owls jumped on the Bears in the first inning, plating four runs before Jeb Johnson came out of the bullpen to pick up a strikeout and stop the bleeding. After scoreless innings by both sides in the second, the Mercer offense got going in the top of the third, with Bradley Frye poking an RBI single to right to score Zack Thompson and Parker Lester coming around to score on a throwing error in the next at-bat.

Kennesaw State threatened again in the bottom of the fourth, loading the bases with two outs. However, Johnson came through with his biggest pitch of the game, striking out his fifth Owl of the night to keep the score at 4-2.

The Bears used the positive momentum generated by Johnson to explode with a huge inning in the top of the fifth. Ely Brown led off the inning with an HBP and Bradley Frye walked to put two on with nobody out. After a fly out, Dalley drilled a double into right-center field to score Brown and Frye and tie the game at four. In the next at-bat, Brant Baughcum put a deep drive off the bottom of the wall in left field to plate Dalley and give the Bears the lead. Following a Drew Johnson walk, Kamaka extended the lead with a hard-hit ball through the left side of the infield to score Baughcum. Mercer tacked on two more runs before the inning ended, as Baughcum and Johnson scored on a pair of wild pitches to make the score 8-4 in favor of the Bears.

From that point on, the Mercer bullpen locked things down to lead the Bears to victory. Kalkbrenner entered in the fifth for his second career appearance, posting two scoreless innings before giving way to fellow freshman Collin Ewaldsen in the top of the seventh for his own shutout frame. After Dalley scored Zack Thompson with a sac fly for an insurance run in the top of the eighth, Decker completed the freshmen trifecta on the mound, striking out two in a scoreless bottom of the eighth. In the ninth, Busse locked things down for Mercer, picking up two punch-outs to secure a 9-3 win.

The Bears return to OrthoGeorgia Park for a series with Kent State starting on Friday. Fans can get their tickets ahead of time and skip the line by visiting MercerBears.com/Tickets.