Bears Finish Off Season Sweep Of Georgia Southern

Tuesday, April 15

Statesboro, Ga.

6 p.m.

Mercer University

23-22

Georgia Southern

27-17

Mercer

Georgia Southern

Bears Finish Off Season Sweep Of Georgia Southern

4/15/2025 8:45:00 PM | Softball

Box Score Box Score

By: Todd Anderson, anderson_t02@mercer.edu

STATESBORO – Freshman right-hander Grace Jones turned in five innings of solid work in the circle, and helped her own cause with a clutch 2-run single in the fifth, as visiting Mercer finished off a season sweep of in-state foe Georgia Southern with a 4-2 victory over the Eagles on Tuesday evening at the GS Softball Complex.

The victory finished off a 20-win non-conference slate for the Bears (23-22), who also improved to 8-1 against Georgia-based teams with the decision as well. It was just the fourth loss in the last 12 outings for Georgia Southern (27-17) who has now dropped consecutive games in the series with the Orange & Black for the first time since 2019.

Jones (3-2) struck out one and scattered five hits and a pair of earned runs over five quality innings from the circle to pick up her first win since March 4 against Bethune-Cookman. Grace Taylor struck out one and yielded just one hit across two scoreless innings of relief to notch her fourth save of the campaign.

GAME SUMMARY
FINAL	Mercer 4, Georgia Southern 2
PITCHERS	WP: Grace Jones (3-2) LP: Alana Barnard (5-2) Save: Grace Taylor (4)
RECORDS	Records: Mercer 23-22 (3-8 SoCon); Georgia Southern 27-17 (11-4 Sun Belt)

KEY INNINGS
BOT 4	Delanie Thames leaned into a 2-and-1 offering from MU starter Grace Jones and delivered a game-tying solo homer to left field.
BOT 5	Mercer loaded the bases with its first four at-bats of the fifth frame, and then took the lead for good when Parris Wiggs drew a 7-pitch walk to force in a run. Grace Jones tacked up a pair of insurance runs two batters later on a 2-out single through the right side the plated both Wiggs and Hallie Langford.

MER LEADERS	GSU LEADERS
Parris Wiggs 1-3, BB, RBI, 2 R Hannah Rivers 2-3, 3B, R Grace Jones 1-3, 3 RBI Hallie Langford 1-4, R	Delanie Thames 2-3, HR, Faith Barth 1-3, RBI Emma Davis 1-3, BB

UP NEXT
Mercer will return home again this weekend to host a key 3-game Southern Conference series against league foe Western Carolina (20-24, 4-8 SoCon) at Sikes Field. The squads will open up the weekend with a 4 p.m. twinbill on Friday, and close out the set with a single dip on Saturday at 1 p.m.

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