Sunday, February 22, 2009

MOBILE, Ala. - Trailing 11-5 going into the bottom of the fifth inning, Mercer scored seven runs over the course of the next four innings while holding No. 6 Ole Miss scoreless, claiming a 13-11 victory in the third game of the 24th Annual Coca-Cola Classic at South Alabama’s Stanky Field on Saturday evening.

Junior Michael Langley and freshman Jacob Tanis each contributed three RBI and John Hoelzer and Blake Mainor combined to shutout the Rebels in the last 4 1/3 innings, propelling the Bears (1-1, 0-0 A-Sun) to their first victory over a Southeastern Conference opponent since knocking off Florida in 2006.

The win gives Mercer victories over top-ten opponents in three of the last four seasons, and its first win against Ole Miss (1-1, 0-0 SEC). Saturday marked the first meeting between the Bears and the Rebels.

“We showed a lot of character tonight against a great club,” head coach Craig Gibson said. “We were fortunate to have some guys get up in some crucial situations and had some balls bounce our way. It happened to be our night tonight.”

Langley ended the day 2-for-5 with a pair of doubles and Tanis went 3-for-5 with a home run.