Bears Batter Keydets With Barrel Barrage

Friday, May 8

Macon, Ga.

6 p.m.

Mercer University

37-13, 10--6

VMI

27-20, 3-13

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
VMI	0	0	0	0	1	0	1	2	5	0
Mercer	6	1	2	4	0	0	X	13	12	0

5/8/2026 9:37:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

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

MACON – The Mercer Bears (37-13, 10-6 SoCon) mashed a season-high six home runs in the first four innings and delivered a dominant 13-2 win over the VMI Keydets (27-20, 3-13 SoCon) at OrthoGeorgia Park on Friday night.

Decisive Plays:

For the second straight game, the Bears jumped off to a big lead in the first inning. Logan Shepherd got the home run derby started with a lead-off home run (16), Braydon Kersey ripped a single through the right side of the infield to plate another and Dylan LaPointe blasted a 392-foot grand slam to cap off a six-run opening frame. Eli Stephens hit a solo home run (16) the next inning before LaPointe launched his second home run of the night, a two-run blast to left-center, to give the Bears a loud 9-0 lead after two innings. The fourth inning continued the trend Chris Katz powered a lead-off home run (17) to right field, Brant Baughcum dropped an RBI single into right-center and Kersey blasted a 432-foot home run (20) to give Mercer a 13-0 advantage. Garrett Lambert dominated VMI through the first four innings and picked up seven strikeouts while facing just one over the minimum. The Keydets were able to get on the board in the fifth with an RBI groundout before Lambert recorded his ninth strikeout of the night. Riley Cruce entered the game in the top of the sixth and struck out two in a near-perfect inning. VMI plated the final run of the night with an RBI single by Benjamin Cardone before Cruce retired the next two batters he faced and ended the night early.

Notables:

Mercer's six home runs is a single-game high for the 2026 season. The last time the Bears launched six homers was in a 22-2 victory, also over VMI, on April 4, 2025.
Garrett Lambert tied his career-high of nine strikeouts for the fourth time this season. The redshirt freshman first reached this mark on February 27 of this year.
Braydon Kersey mashed his 20th home run of the season. The sophomore tied Mercer legends Kyle Lewis, Eric Toth, Frank Millerd and Chris Clayton for the eighth-most homers in a single season by a Bear. The record for the most round-trippers in a single season is held by Tim Smith who launched 24 in 1983.
The Bears have launched 108 balls over the fence as a team. Mercer's record for the most home runs in a single season as a team is 111 home runs set in 2023.

Key Contributors:

Braydon Kersey: 3-for-4, 3 RBI, HR, 3 R
Dylan LaPointe: 2-for-3, 6 RBI, 2 HR, 2 R
Garrett Lambert: 5.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 9 SO, W, 80 NP

Next Game:

The Bears continue their three-game series against VMI on Saturday, May 9. First pitch is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. RHP Miguel Hugas (8-2, 6.06 ERA) will start for Mercer and RHP Clark Driscoll (3-2, 3.00 ERA) is scheduled to start for the Keydets. Live stats are available here. All games will be streamed on ESPN+.