Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Nashville, Tenn. – No. 4 seed Mercer capitalized off several Kennesaw State miscues to knock off the third-seeded Owls 6-4 in the final game of the opening day of the 2011 Atlantic Sun Baseball Championship on Wednesday at Lipscomb’s Dugan Field.

The Bears (37-18) – the defending tournament champs – scored two unearned runs and were aided by two errors, three wild pitches and one passed ball by Kennesaw State (32-24). The Owls are playing in their first A-Sun Tournament.

Trailing 3-2 entering the fifth, Mercer plated three runs in the top of the inning. With runners on the corners and one out, Thomas Carroll drove in the tying run with a single. On the play, Joe Winker moved from first to third after an error by right fielder Bucky Smith. Austin Barrett grounded into a fielder’s choice, which forced out Carroll and left Winker standing at third.

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Kennesaw State’s Zac Griffith then replaced starter Josh Carr (5-6), who was tagged with the loss. Griffith faced three batters in the inning and threw three wild pitches – one directly led to a run and another was on a swinging third strike that would have ended the inning. But instead, a passed ball by catcher Ronnie Freeman directly resulted in Mercer’s fifth run, which turned out to be the difference.

Mercer started the scoring early in the first inning. After Billy Burns led off with a single, Joe Winker smashed a 1-2 pitch from Carr over the right-field wall for a two-run home run – his 13th of the season.

Kennesaw State took the lead in the third with a string of hits. Singles by Chris Wages and Aaron Dobbs put runners on the corners with one out. Freeman followed with a single to right field to score Wages. A double in the left field corner scored Dobbs and advanced Freeman to third. He then scored on Sean McClurken’s sacrifice fly to right field.

Other than that frame, Mercer starter Brandon Love held Kennesaw State at bay. He scattered nine hits for four earned runs over 6.2 innings. But with two outs in the bottom of the seventh he allowed a solo home run to Ronnie Freeman – his 10th of the season. This was followed by a three-base error on a hit by Andy Chriscaden. Smith appeared to lose the ball in the lights in right field as the ball bounced off his glove.

That was all for Love (8-1), who was replaced by J.T. Odom. Mercer’s right-handed closer forced a pop up to first baseman John Moreland in foul territory to end the inning. Odom then struck out the side – working around a walk and hit batter with two outs – in the eighth and pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to pick up his sixth save. It was Mercer’s seventh win in its last eight games.

Barrett led the Bears with three hits, while Freeman went 3-for-5 with two RBIs for Kennesaw State. Mercer advances to play Jacksonville at 7 p.m. on Thursday while Kennesaw State will play Belmont at 3 p.m. on Thursday.

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The Atlantic Sun Conference is an 11-member league committed to Building Winners for Life. The A-Sun stands for achievement with integrity in both the academic and athletic arenas, with a focus on the balance between the two for our student-athletes. Headquartered in Macon, Ga., the A-Sun boasts five of the top eight media markets in the Southeast. The A-Sun includes a blend of the most prestigious and dynamic private and public institutions in the region: Belmont University, Campbell University, East Tennessee State University, Florida Gulf Coast University, Jacksonville University, Kennesaw State University, Lipscomb University, Mercer University, University of North Florida, University of South Carolina Upstate and Stetson University.