Tuesday, February 25
Macon, Ga.
6 p.m.
Mercer University
7-1
14
vs
7
Florida A&M
2-6
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Florida A&M
0
0
0
0
2
2
1
2
0
7
11
0
Mercer
0
0
5
2
0
5
2
0
X
14
14
4
Gibson Reaches 700 Career Wins As Bears Defeat Florida A&M
2/25/2025 10:20:00 PM | Baseball
MACON – Mercer baseball head coach Craig Gibson reached a major milestone in his illustrious career on Tuesday night, recording his 700th win as Mercer took down Florida A&M by a score of 14-7 at OrthoGeorgia Park.
Already the winningest coach in program history, Gibson has served as Mercer's skipper since the 2004 season and has led the Bears to seven conference championships and four NCAA Regional berths. Over his 21-plus year career, Gibson has accrued one ASUN and two SoCon Coach of the Year awards and became the first person in ASUN history to be named the league's player (1985) and coach of the year (2013).
The Mercer offense continued their tear on Tuesday to help Gibson secure the milestone victory and extend their winning streak to seven games, putting up 14 runs on 14 hits, including seven extra-base hits. Bradley Frye (4-for-5) remained red-hot at the plate, crushing a home run and a double in a four RBI game. Over his last four games, Frye is 13-for-20 with 10 RBI and has run his season batting average to .486. Ty Dalley (3-for-4) homered for the third time this season and drove in three runs, while Ely Brown (2-for-2, 2 HBP) scored three times to help pace the Bears' lineup. Cade Cosper turned in a solid start, allowing one earned run over four innings, and Riley Cruce (1-0) tossed two innings out of the bullpen to earn his first win as a Bear. Trevor Hanselman (0-2) took the loss for Florida A&M.
The first two and a half innings of play flew by, as Cosper allowed just one base-runner in his first three innings of work. After a slow start offensively, the Bears started the scoring in the bottom of the third with a flurry of extra-base hits to put up a crooked number. Following walks by Zack Thompson and Brown, Frye got the Bears on the board with a double to score Thompson. Dalley stepped in for the next at-bat and shot a double to left center, scoring Brown and Frye to make the lead 3-0. Parker Lester was next to join the hit parade, putting a ball off the wall in right field to leg out his second triple in as many games. Finally, Brant Baughcum ripped the third double of the inning to left field to score Lester for the Bears fifth run of the frame.
The Mercer lineup got right back to it in the fourth when Michael Graziano and Brown got on base for Frye, who delivered another RBI knock with a single to left. Two batters later, Lester came through with a sac fly to score Brown and push the lead to seven.
In the top of the fifth, the Rattlers got on the board with two runs before scoring twice more in the sixth to the deficit to three. However, the Bears responded in the bottom of the frame with another crooked number. After Brown led off the inning with a single, Frye continued his other-worldly stretch in the batter's box, crushing a two-run home run to left center for his fourth hit of the game. The Bears would score three more times in the inning, getting an RBI walk from Drew Johnson, an RBI HBP from Thompson and an RBI single from Graziano to make it an eight-run game.
The Rattlers would not go down without a fight, scratching across another run in the top of the seventh on an RBI single. The Mercer offense proved to be too much, however, as a mammoth homer from Dalley and an RBI triple from Johnson in the bottom of the inning put the game out of reach. Florida A&M scored two more runs in the eighth before Bears freshman Brayden Lawrence entered in the ninth and put up a zero in his collegiate debut.
The Bears look for their eighth consecutive win tomorrow when they take on Florida A&M once again at OrthoGeorgia Park. First pitch is set for 4 p.m. Fans can get their tickets ahead of time and skip the line by visiting MercerBears.com/Tickets.
Already the winningest coach in program history, Gibson has served as Mercer's skipper since the 2004 season and has led the Bears to seven conference championships and four NCAA Regional berths. Over his 21-plus year career, Gibson has accrued one ASUN and two SoCon Coach of the Year awards and became the first person in ASUN history to be named the league's player (1985) and coach of the year (2013).
The Mercer offense continued their tear on Tuesday to help Gibson secure the milestone victory and extend their winning streak to seven games, putting up 14 runs on 14 hits, including seven extra-base hits. Bradley Frye (4-for-5) remained red-hot at the plate, crushing a home run and a double in a four RBI game. Over his last four games, Frye is 13-for-20 with 10 RBI and has run his season batting average to .486. Ty Dalley (3-for-4) homered for the third time this season and drove in three runs, while Ely Brown (2-for-2, 2 HBP) scored three times to help pace the Bears' lineup. Cade Cosper turned in a solid start, allowing one earned run over four innings, and Riley Cruce (1-0) tossed two innings out of the bullpen to earn his first win as a Bear. Trevor Hanselman (0-2) took the loss for Florida A&M.
The first two and a half innings of play flew by, as Cosper allowed just one base-runner in his first three innings of work. After a slow start offensively, the Bears started the scoring in the bottom of the third with a flurry of extra-base hits to put up a crooked number. Following walks by Zack Thompson and Brown, Frye got the Bears on the board with a double to score Thompson. Dalley stepped in for the next at-bat and shot a double to left center, scoring Brown and Frye to make the lead 3-0. Parker Lester was next to join the hit parade, putting a ball off the wall in right field to leg out his second triple in as many games. Finally, Brant Baughcum ripped the third double of the inning to left field to score Lester for the Bears fifth run of the frame.
The Mercer lineup got right back to it in the fourth when Michael Graziano and Brown got on base for Frye, who delivered another RBI knock with a single to left. Two batters later, Lester came through with a sac fly to score Brown and push the lead to seven.
In the top of the fifth, the Rattlers got on the board with two runs before scoring twice more in the sixth to the deficit to three. However, the Bears responded in the bottom of the frame with another crooked number. After Brown led off the inning with a single, Frye continued his other-worldly stretch in the batter's box, crushing a two-run home run to left center for his fourth hit of the game. The Bears would score three more times in the inning, getting an RBI walk from Drew Johnson, an RBI HBP from Thompson and an RBI single from Graziano to make it an eight-run game.
The Rattlers would not go down without a fight, scratching across another run in the top of the seventh on an RBI single. The Mercer offense proved to be too much, however, as a mammoth homer from Dalley and an RBI triple from Johnson in the bottom of the inning put the game out of reach. Florida A&M scored two more runs in the eighth before Bears freshman Brayden Lawrence entered in the ninth and put up a zero in his collegiate debut.
The Bears look for their eighth consecutive win tomorrow when they take on Florida A&M once again at OrthoGeorgia Park. First pitch is set for 4 p.m. Fans can get their tickets ahead of time and skip the line by visiting MercerBears.com/Tickets.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Cruce, Riley (1-0)
L: Trevor Hanselman (0-2)
Batting:
2B: Ethan Miller 1 ; Ben Kim 1 ; Colton Ryals 1
HR: William Brown 1
RBI: Matthew Perez 1 ; Ben Kim 2 ; William Brown 2
SH: Ethan Miller 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Jay Campbell 1 ; Josue Figueroa 1 ; Ethan Miller 1 ; Ben Kim 1 ; Colton Ryals 1 ; William Brown 1 ; Jalen Niles 1
Batting:
2B: Frye, Bradley 1 ; Dalley, Ty 1 ; Baughcum, Brant 1
3B: Lester, Parker 1 ; Johnson, Drew 1
HR: Frye, Bradley 1 ; Dalley, Ty 1
RBI: Frye, Bradley 4 ; Dalley, Ty 3 ; Lester, Parker 2 ; Baughcum, Brant 1 ; Johnson, Drew 2 ; Thompson, Zack 1 ; Graziano, Michael 1
SF: Lester, Parker 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Brown, Ely 3 ; Frye, Bradley 2 ; Dalley, Ty 2 ; Lester, Parker 2 ; Baughcum, Brant 1 ; Decker, Kai 1 ; Johnson, Drew 1 ; Thompson, Zack 1 ; Graziano, Michael 1
SB: Frye, Bradley 1
CS: Dalley, Ty 1
HBP: Brown, Ely 2 ; Johnson, Drew 1 ; Thompson, Zack 1
Game Leaders
AB
5
R
2
H
3
RBI
4
AB
4
R
1
H
2
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
3B
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RHP
/ Baseball
LHP
/ BaseballSS
/ Baseball
OF
/ Baseball
OF
/ Baseball
LHP
/ Baseball
INF
/ Baseball
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