Pitching Powers Bears Over Florida A&M

Wednesday, April 23

Tallahassee, FL

4 p.m.

Mercer University

26-17

Florida A&M

19-19

Mercer

Florida AM

4/23/2025 7:56:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

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

TALLAHASSEE, Fla.  –  Five Mercer pitchers combined to limit Florida A&M to two runs while the offense plated three runs in the sixth to secure a midweek win by a score 4-2 on Wednesday in Tallahassee.

Drew Johnson (1-for-4) and Zack Thompson (1-for-3) drove in runs, Ty Dalley (1-for-4) homered, and Eli Stephens (2-for-3) tallied multiple hits to lead the Bears at the plate. Braydon Kersey (2-3) picked up the win with two shutout innings in relief, while Trenten Langley (0-1) took the loss for the Rattlers.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Jackson Gaspard made his second consecutive midweek start for Mercer and worked around a pair of baserunners with nobody out in the first, striking out two and inducing a groundout to post a zero. However, the Rattlers scored the first run of the game in the bottom of the second, using a solo home run to take a 1-0 lead.

The Bears' lineup struggled to get going in the early stages of the game, being limited to two singles through the game's first four innings. Kersey took over on the mound in the bottom of the fourth and worked around a leadoff single to keep the score at 1-0.

The Bears looked as if they were going to break through in the top of the fifth when Eli Stephens led off the inning with a double. However, Stephens was thrown out at home attempting to tag up on a fly ball to end the inning.

Following two strikeouts from Kersey in the bottom of the fifth, the Mercer offense finally broke through in the top of the sixth. With one out in the inning, Bradley Frye drew a walk and Brant Baughcum was hit by a pitch to put two on. Johnson stepped in next and broke the ice, delivering a double to left field to score Frye and even things up at one. In the next at-bat, Thompson continued his torrid stretch by putting a ball off the wall in left center, scoring Baughcum and Johnson to give the Bears a 3-1 lead.

The three runs were all the Mercer bullpen needed, as Craig Kalkbrenner entered next and worked a 1-2-3 inning. The Rattlers made it a one-run game in the seventh, using a solo home run to chase Kalkbrenner before Andrew Garnett shut things down with a fly out. Garnett shut down the Rattlers again in the eighth, striking out two to put up a zero.

Dalley delivered a huge insurance run in the top of the ninth, demolishing a solo home run way over the right field wall to increase the lead back to two. The home run was his 15^th of the season and the 54^th of his career, putting him just two shy of the Mercer career home run record.

Looking for his second save against Florida A&M this season, Collin Ewaldsen came on for the ninth and worked around a two-out single to lock down the 4-2 win.

UP NEXT

Another crucial SoCon series at OrthoGeorgia Park begins on Friday as the Bears play host to conference leaders UNC Greensboro. First pitch for Friday's series opener is scheduled for 6 p.m., with games two and three to follow on Saturday and Sunday. Fans can purchase tickets ahead of time at Mercerbears.com/tickets.