Wednesday, February 07, 2007

Courtesy of SEBaseball.com - Mercer raised some raised eyebrows in pressboxes around the country and undoubtedly got a few Mel Allen "How 'bout that's" after snatching a pair of come-from-behind wins at Miami. The Mercer Mania continued Sunday as fans cried conspiracy theory when third game was canceled.

Judging by the weather during the Prince concert -- you know the one where football was played before and after -- Sunday night in Miami, the conspiracy died on the vine. The optimism did not.

Since the Bears' are roughly 65 wins away from an undefeated record and CWS title, we felt it would be a great time to sit down and chat with Mercer head coach Craig Gibson.

All kidding aside, Gibson did a great job last season making the Bears contenders in the Atlantic Sun Conference. Last weekend was a nice shot of adrenaline for a veteran team with eyes on the postseason.

Mark Etheridge - SEBaseball.com Publisher

Click on the link below to listen to Mark Etheridge's interview with Mercer Head Coach Craig Gibson over at SEBaseball.com

--

Mercer had arguably the biggest upset of the weekend when the swept the second-ranked Miami Hurricanes on the road and as baseball season kicked off for some teams this weekend it gives SEBaseball a chance to take a look at some of the interesting match-ups from opening weekend and look ahead to the next week as the season turns into another gear.

The Mercer Bears surprised the Miami Hurricanes as they swept the season series with 6-5 and 8-5 victories.

In the opening game Mercer came back from a 5-1 deficit with a homerun by Josh Thompson in the sixth inning and RBI singles by Tyler Brown and Thompson in the seventh to bring the score to 5-4.

Thompson singled in the tying run in the ninth inning. Mike Armstrong gave Mercer the lead and the win as he singled in pinch runner Richard Bentley.

Saturday's game went back and forth and Miami out-hit Mercer 10-5, but Mercer took advantage of miscues by the Hurricanes in the win. Down 5-4 after several lead changes, Mercer took the final lead as Miami made two errors in the seventh inning which led to the go-ahead run scoring. Armstrong added a two-run homerun in the ninth to seal the scoring.

"It really reinforces that when you work hard and you have success; it's one thing to tell guys about being successful, but when you can taste it it validates your hard work that you put in on a daily basis," Mercer head coach Craig Gibson said. "It's like I told the guys, if we don't accomplish our goals in the end in the big picture these two wins don't mean a whole lot to us."

Going into the series Mercer was 1-27 all time against Miami with their last victory coming in 1975. The two teams last played in 1995.

Mercer was tabbed to finish third in the A-Sun conference, but will a series sweep of Miami mean that big things are on the horizon for the Bear's? The upcoming series against Bethune-Cookman could be an interesting series to watch and see if the Bear's have a letdown after a big win.

Mike Loveday - SEBaseball.com Publisher