The Mercer Bears jumped out to an early 8-1 lead and answered a brief rally by the VMI Keydets with five unanswered runs in the middle innings as they went on to a 19-7 victory in game nine of the 2015 Southern Conference Baseball Championship, contested Friday afternoon in Charleston, S.C. With the loss, VMI (21-29) drops to the losers’ bracket and will play #8 The Citadel in an elimination game Friday night at 8:30 p.m.
Mercer (33-21) advances to the league semifinals Saturday.
The Bears jumped out to an early 8-1 lead, as they scored eight of the game’s first nine runs against Brandon Barbery (5-3). A three-run shot by David Geary in the second inning cut the margin to 8-4 and seemed to turn the momentum, but Mercer reliever Mitchell Wade entered the game in the third inning and retired 11 in a row. The Bears then added the game’s next five runs to increase the margin to 13-4 and were not challenged thereafter.
Barbery took the loss, as he surrendered eight runs in 1 2/3 innings. Mercer’s Grant Papelian was knocked out in the third inning, but Wade (6-1) threw four frames and allowed just two runs to earn the victory.
Offensively, Brandon Angus extended his hitting streak to 13 games with a 3 for 4, two runs scored day and Geary was 2 for 5. Three different Mercer players had four hits apiece to pace the tournament’s top seed.
MU jumped ahead in the first inning, when Matt Meeder hit a solo home run on the second pitch of the game. The Bears added two additional runs, and after VMI scored once in the bottom half, Mercer put a five-spot on the board in the second. A two-run single by Danny Edgeworth, one of his four hits on the day, highlighted the inning that saw 11 Bears come to the plate.
Thomas Stallings then led off the VMI second with a single and Angus followed with one of his own. After two strikeouts by Papelian, Geary blasted an 0-1 pitch over the wall in right field for a three-run shot to cut the deficit to 8-4.
Reliever Matt Eagle then threw a shutout third inning and Collin Fleischer walked to start the VMI third. With the momentum seemingly turning, Mercer went to reliever Wade who promptly retired the next 11 Keydets to come to the plate. VMI did not have a hit off Wade until the sixth, when the Keydets plated two runs to cut the margin to 13-6. Mercer then scored six of the game’s final seven runs to account for the final margin.
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