Stephens, Busse Lift Bears Over Georgia Southern

Tuesday, April 15

Statesboro, Ga.

6 p.m.

Mercer University

24-15

Georgia Southern

21-16

Mercer

Georgia Southern

Stephens, Busse Lift Bears Over Georgia Southern

4/15/2025 10:33:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

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

STATESBORO, Ga. – Freshman Eli Stephens came off the bench with two outs in the ninth inning and delivered the biggest hit of his career, a go-ahead RBI single to give the Bears a 7-6 win over Georgia Southern on Tuesday night in Statesboro.

Ely Brown (2-for-5), Brant Baughcum (2-for-3), Parker Lester (2-for-5) and Zack Thompson (2-for-5) all had multi-hit days to lead the Bears at the plate. Terry Busse (2-0) got the win for Mercer, striking out three in two perfect innings to close it out. Jax Lewis (2-4) took the loss for Georgia Southern.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Mercer came out of the gates hot, putting the first two runners on base in the top of the first. Ty Dalley capitalized on the opportunity, as the Bears' cleanup hitter put a double into the gap in right center to score both runners. The Bears were not done, however, with Lester and Thompson picking up back-to-back two out singles to make it a four-run first inning.

Getting the start for Mercer, Jackson Gaspard worked through a scoreless first inning before two errors helped the Eagles scratch across two runs in the second.

Braydon Kersey took over on the mound in the bottom of the third and posted a zero with help from second baseman Titan Kamaka, who laid out for a ground ball up the middle to start a 4-6-3 double play.

The Bears added to the lead in the top of the fourth, as a triple from Drew Johnson and a single from Brown made the score 5-2. Later in the inning, a bases loaded groundout from Bradley Frye extended the lead to four.

Bryce Hawkins and Craig Kalkbrenner posted scoreless frames in the fourth and fifth to keep the score at 6-2, but a two-out rally from the Eagles in the sixth inning tied things up at six. Collin Ewaldsen eventually got the Bears out of the inning with a fly out before retiring the side in order in the seventh to keep it a 6-6 ballgame.

Busse entered in bottom of the eighth and needed just eight pitches to sit down the Eagles, giving the Bears a chance to win it in the ninth.

The Mercer offense responded accordingly, putting together a two-out rally on a single from Thompson and a stolen base from pinch-runner David Falloon. Following a walk to Johnson, Stephens pinch-hit and deposited the first hit he saw into center field, scoring Falloon for the go-ahead run.

Clinging to a one-run lead, Busse left no doubt in the bottom of the ninth, striking out two to claim the win.

The win was the Bears' first in Statesboro since 2018 and split the season series with the Eagles.

UP NEXT

Mercer returns to OrthoGeorgia Park on Thursday to open a crucial SoCon series with East Tennessee State. First pitch for Thursday and Friday are scheduled 6 p.m., with Saturday's series finale scheduled for 1 p.m. Fans can claim their tickets ahead of time by visiting Mercerbears.com/tickets.