Mercer Bats Dominate in Doubleheader Sweep of KSU

KENNESAW, Ga. – The Mercer baseball team erupted for 26 runs in an impressive doubleheader sweep of Kennesaw State on Saturday afternoon at Stillwell Stadium.

The Bears took game one 11-4 and ran away with game two by a 15-8 margin.

The sweep secures Mercer's third-straight Atlantic Sun series victory and moves its overall record up to 28-20 overall and 12-9 in A-Sun action. Kennesaw State falls to 18-26 overall and 7-11 in A-Sun play with the loss. 

“I am really proud of the way we competed today,” said pitching coach Brent Shade. “We had a team effort tonight offensively and had great pitching performances by Jacob Matthews and Justice French as well.”

Junior John Moreland increased Mercer's lead up to 2-0 in the second when he launched his 15^th home run of the season, good for fourth-best in the A-Sun this season.

Kennesaw State responded with a long ball of its own in the second when junior Drew Fowlkes hit a solo home run to make the score 2-1.

The Owls rally continued in the third with another two runs. Freshman Ronnie Freeman guided a two-RBI single up the middle to put the home team in front, 3-2.

Down 4-2 in the top of the sixth, the Orange and Black began their late-inning charge with three runs in the frame. Another RBI-double by junior Thomas Carroll, his second of the game, a Kennesaw State error and an RBI groundout by senior Nick DiMauro saw Mercer retake the lead, 5-4.

The Bears tacked on four more runs in the seventh and eighth to effectively put the game out of reach. Freshman Evan Boyd hit his second home run of the season in the seventh and Carroll picked up his third and fourth RBI of the game with a two-run single in the eighth to extend Mercer's lead to 9-4.

Sophomore Jacob Matthews worked 3.1 innings of scoreless relief to pick up the win, his third of the season.

Game two saw Mercer jump out to an insurmountable lead in the very first inning. The Bears batted around on their way to scoring eight runs on eight hits in the top of the first. A two-RBI double by junior Joe Winker and two doubles by Burns alone highlighted the action in the frame.

Two more solo home runs by Moreland and senior Tyler McCarty in the third pushed the Orange and Black's lead up to 10-0.

Junior Justice French made the most of the gaudy run support given to him by contributing his second-straight quality start. The Suwanee, Ga. native went five innings and allowed three runs on nine hits while striking out four to pick up his second win of the season.

Burns, with his four hits on the day, extended his season-high hitting streak to 17 games in the doubleheader sweep.

Carroll and Boyd tallied five hits apiece on the day while McCarty, Carroll and DiMauro each drove in four runs.

“This was a huge series for us and it feels great to get a sweep in a crucial A-Sun series,” said Shade. “It is now important for our guys to compete as hard as we did this weekend in the classroom with finals this week.”

Mercer is now on a 10-day layoff for finals and will not be back in action until May 11, when it travels to Charleston, S.C. to take on The Citadel. Game time on Friday evening is scheduled for 6 p.m.