Mercer Falls To Western Carolina At SoCon Tournament

Thursday, May 22

Greenville, S.C.

3 p.m.

Mercer University

Western Carolina

Mercer Falls To Western Carolina At SoCon Tournament

5/22/2025 7:22:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

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

GREENVILLE, S.C. – Western Carolina jumped to a 4-0 lead in the first inning of Thursday's Southern Conference game and did not look back, downing Mercer by a score of 10-3. Fourth-seeded Mercer will be back in action tomorrow at 7:30 p.m. in an elimination game.

Ty Dalley (3-for-5) led the Bears with three hits, while Bradley Frye (1-for-5) and David Falloon (1-for-4) drove in runs. Davis Wright (5-7) got the win for Western Carolina, while Jeb Johnson (4-5) took the loss for Mercer.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Fresh off of a 15-1 win over VMI in Wednesday's tournament opener, the fifth-seeded Catamounts stayed red-hot by scoring four runs on three hits, including a three-run home run, in the top of the first. Jess Ackerman entered from the bullpen for Mercer to extinguish the rally and put up a zero in the second before striking out the side in the third, keeping it at 4-0.

However, the Catamounts struck again in the fourth with a two-run homer, extending their lead to six. In the fifth, Western Carolina took advantage of three free passes to plate another run and make the score 7-0.

The Mercer offense came to life in the seventh, as freshman David Falloon came through with a double to right center with two men on, scoring Ely Brown. In the next at-bat, Parker Lester came across to score on a wild pitch to cut the deficit to five.

In the top of the seventh, Frye showed why he was named the SoCon Defensive Player of the Year with a beautiful backhanded play in the hole to help Andrew Garnett work a scoreless inning. In the bottom of the inning, Dalley put a hard-hit ball off of the monster in left field for a leadoff double before Frye hit a double of his own off of the monster to make it a 7-3 game. However, Mercer left runners on first and third to end the inning as the Catamounts held on to a four-run lead.

With Caden Alvey taking over on the mound in the top of the eighth, Frye continued to flex his defensive prowess by making two more highlight-worthy plays at shortstop, capped by a Derek Jeter-esque backhand and jump throw to record the third out of the inning.

Looking to capitalize on the momentum, Parker Lester led off the bottom of the eighth with a double to left center to put himself in scoring position. Although a one out walk put two men on base, Western Carolina was able to work out of the jam once again before putting the game away with three runs in the top of the ninth to take a 10-3 win.

UP NEXT

With the loss, Mercer drops into the loser's bracket and will play an elimination game tomorrow at 7:30 p.m.