Bears Ground Owls in 5-2 Series Opening Win

KENNESAW, Ga. – Freshman Matt McCall delivered another masterful pitching performance to propel the Mercer baseball team to a 5-2 win on Friday evening at Stillwell Stadium.

The win is Mercer’s sixth in its last seventh games and moves its overall record up to 26-20 overall and 10-9 in A-Sun action. Kennesaw State falls to 18-24 overall and 7-9 in A-Sun play with the loss. 

“We definitely benefited from a very well pitched game by both McCall and Teasley,” said head coach Craig Gibson. “We put together a lot of hits early but couldn’t really do anything with them until Michael Langley stepped up with two clutch hits for us in a great Friday night victory.”

Kennesaw State started the scoring in the contest with two runs in the bottom of the second inning. Freshman Ronnie Freeman clubbed a two-run home run off Mercer starter Matt McCall to give the home team an early 2-0 lead.

The Bears definitely had their chances early against Owls starter Ryan Rodebaugh. The Orange and Black left the bases loaded in the first and third and combined to strand eight runners over the first three frames.

Mercer eventually broke through in the fourth for three runs off Rodebaugh. Sophomore slugger Jacob Tanis hit his team-leading 18^th double of the season to drive in a run and bring the Orange and Black within one, at 2-1. Senior Michael Langley  put Mercer out in front just a batter later when he pulled a two-RBI single to left to make the score 3-2.

Sophomore Billy Burns picked up his third hit of the day when he slapped an RBI single up the middle in the fifth to increase the Orange and Black’s lead up to 4-2.

Langley pushed the Bears cushion up to 5-2 in the sixth when he tattooed his fifth home run of the season over the left-centerfield wall.

That is all the run support McCall needed in yet another stellar outing by the Valdosta, Ga. native. McCall ended up going 6.1 innings and allowed just two runs on four hits while striking out four to pick up his fourth win of the season. In his last three starts, McCall has allowed just 11 earned runs in 19.1 innings pitched.     

Tanis and Burns each once again extended their hitting streaks to 16 and 15 games, respectively, in the win. Tanis’ 16-game streak is tied for the 23^rd longest active hitting streak in the country.

Mercer will be back in action on Saturday afternoon when it plays a doubleheader against Kennesaw State to conclude the three-game series. Game one is scheduled for 1 p.m. with game two to follow at 4 p.m. at Stillwell Stadium.