[su_spacer size=”40″] The Bears (16-11) jumped on freshman Blake Hamilton who was making his first career start, building a 7-0 lead by the second inning. The Bulldogs (15-10) fought back to get the tying run to the plate in the eighth but the Mercer bullpen preserved the lead in front of a crowd of 2,625.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Trailing 10-1, the Bulldogs began to heat up their bats in the sixth with three runs and added two in the seventh and two in the eighth. Zack Bowers went a career-best 4-for-5 with 3 RBI while Daniel Nichols had two hits and an RBI. Stephen Wrenn notched a single to extend his on base streak to all 25 games this year. Freshman Mitchell Webb smashed his second career home run. The Bears were paced by Kyle Lewis who went 2-for-5 with his team-leading 10th home run and three RBI.
[su_spacer size=”40″] Mercer starter Ryan Askew (3-2) earned the win, pitching 5.1 innings with only one of the four runs he allowed earned. Hamilton allowed six runs (four earned) in one inning. Georgia got a career high four innings from senior Zach Waters while Mike Mancuso went 2.2 innings and Austin Wallace pitched the final 1.1 innings. The Bears used six pitchers on the ninth including senior ace Eric Nyquist who took care of the ninth inning with a pair of strikeouts.
[su_spacer size=”20″] [su_spacer size=”20″] “I thought our kids fought; we certainly didn’t quit but we can’t start like that,” Georgia coach Scott Stricklin said. “It is tough to come back from a 10-1 deficit, but we did. We had the tying run on in the eighth. As badly as we began the game, we came back and had a chance.”
[su_spacer size=”40″] The Bulldogs left the bases loaded in the seventh and continued their hot hitting into the 8th where at one point the bases were loaded again.