Mercer Grits Out Dominant Win Over Bellarmine

Saturday, April 11

Macon, Ga.

11 a.m.

Mercer University

6-5, 2-1

Bellarmine

4-10, 0-3

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
Bellarmine	4	6	3	4	17
Mercer	6	5	4	3	18

Mercer Grits Out Dominant Win Over Bellarmine

4/11/2026 3:52:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse

Box Score

By: Kaylin Flukey, Kaylin.flukey@live.mercer.edu

MACON, Ga. – The Mercer men's lacrosse built off of a six-goal first quarter to bypass Bellarmine 18-17 in a big Atlantic Sun conference match up at Five Star Stadium on Saturday morning for Alumni Day.

Junior attackman Dillon Bush and sophomore attackman Will Zylstra dominated the front lines for the Bears scoring six points (five goals, one assist) on the day, respectively, while senior attackman Michael Frederick posted a hat trick. Dylan McKelvy put up a pair of goals and Jack Sullivan, Kyle Pierce and Nick Church also found the back of the net for the Bears in the victory. Christoper Cappelmann had a strong day at the face off X going 23-35 and scooped up 13 ground balls. Quinn Kelley and Nolan Filley combined for 11 ground balls on the defensive side and freshman goalkeeper Jacob Neuman recorded 17 saves.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Mercer came out firing, scoring three goals in the first three minutes of play to set the tone for the rest of the game. The Knights found the back of the net for the first time at the 10:58 mark but was quickly followed up by back-to-back goals from Bush and Frederick to give the Bears a 5-1 advantage half way through the first quarter. Bush scored his second goal of the day with 3:08 on the clock and Bellarmine squeezed past three more goals before the first quarter buzzer.
The Bears kept the momentum heading into the second quarter scoring three straight goals from Pierce, Frederick, and Bush. The Knights took back some of the momentum scoring three goals of their own to shorten Mercer's lead 9-7. Bush and Zylstra scored again before the end of the second quarter and Bellarmine scored three times to make it a one-point game heading into halftime.
Zylstra continued his standout day with a goal at the 9:15 mark in the third quarter, followed by McKelvy's second goal of the day. Bellarmine scored two more goals but Church responded with his lone goal on the day before the final 15 minutes of play.
The Knights were able to tie the game with 11:41 on the clock in the fourth quarter 15-15 and again at the 7:55 mark (16-16) but the Bears toughed it out to score back-to-back goals from the dominant duo of Bush and Zylstra to give Mercer the push they needed to close out an important win over Bellarmine.

TOP BEARS

Bush and Zylstra posted a game-high five goals.
Pierce recorded his first career goal.
Zylstra and Frederick both picked up their fifth hat trick of the season.

NOTABLES

Mercer improves to 6-4 on the season and moves into the win column in the ASUN.
The Knights remain win-less in the ASUN (0-3).

UP NEXT

The Bears will make their final road trip of the regular season to Colorado to take on Air Force at Falcon Stadium on Saturday, April 18 at noon.

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