Mercer Shatters School Records With Historic Mother’s Day Win

Sunday, May 10

Macon, Ga.

1 p.m.

Mercer University

39-13, 12-6

VMI

27-23, 3-15

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
VMI	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	5	0
Mercer	0	1	5	1	0	2	1	1	11	13	1

Mercer Shatters School Records With Historic Mother’s Day Win

5/10/2026 5:52:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

By: Rylee Bamberger, Rylee.m.bamberger@live.mercer.edu

MACON – The Mercer Bears (39-13, 12-6 SoCon) set a new school record for the most wins in a single season at home and mashed the most home runs in a single season en route to an 11-1 run-rule win on Mother's Day at OrthoGeorgia Park.

Decisive Plays:

VMI claimed an early 1-0 lead after Grayson Fitzwater hit a solo home run (20) in the top of the first inning. Dylan LaPointe responded with his 12th home run of the season and tied the game in the bottom of the second. Chris Katz blasted a two-run homer (18) the next inning to tie the school record for most home runs in a single season (111). A few batters later, LaPointe blasted a three-run home run (13) and re-write Mercer baseball history. Logan Shepherd and Eli Stephens each launched their 17th home runs of the season in the fourth and sixth innings, respectively. Michael Graziano gave Mercer a 10-1 lead in the bottom of the seventh with a sacrifice fly and Titan Kamaka ended the contest in the eighth inning with a walk-off RBI single. Jess Ackerman took over in the second inning and threw 4.1 innings of shutout baseball. Ackerman struck out eight of the 16 batters he faced and earned his third win of the season.

Notables:

The Bears surpassed a program-best of 28 wins at OrthoGeorgia Park with an 11-1 win in the home finale on Sunday afternoon. Mercer's previous season-high was 28 wins reached in 1977. The Bears rank fourth in the nation for the most wins at home (trailing USC, Georgia and Georgia Tech) but sit second for the best W/L percentage (trailing just USC).
Mercer set a new season-high for the most home runs hit in a single season. The previous record was 111 set in 2023. The Bears shattered the record in the third inning courtesy of Chris Katz and Dylan LaPointe.
Jess Ackerman earned career win No. 14 after 4.1 shutout innings against the Keydets. The senior southpaw struck out eight batters and now has 248 career strikeouts.

Key Contributors:

Dylan LaPointe: 3-for-4, 4 RBI, 2 HR, 2B, 3 R
Logan Shepherd: 2-for-3, RBI, HR, 3 R, BB
Eli Stephens: 2-for-4, 2 RBI, HR, 2B, R, BB
Jess Ackerman: 4.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 8 SO, W, 69 NP

Next Game:

The Bears travel north on I-75 for a midweek matchup against in-state rival No. 3 Georgia Tech (42-8, 22-5 ACC) on Tuesday, May 12. First pitch is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. Pitching matchups are TBD. Live stats are available here. All games will be streamed on ACCNX.