Georgia Tech has feasted on non-conference competition this season, including the likes of rival Georgia. Add Mercer to the buffet.
The Yellow Jackets belted eight home runs and scored 13 runs during a three-inning stretch en route to a 16-9 win Tuesday night over Mercer at Claude Smith Field.
Georgia Tech, ranked 27th in Collegiate Baseball, improved to 29-12 overall with its 13th straight win over the Bears, while Mercer fell to 18-25.
"They're a good club," Mercer head coach Craig Gibson said. "That's why they go to regionals every year. They're quality players that play."
The Yellow Jackets improved to 19-1 in non-conference games this season, having won 17 in a row.
"We swung the bats well," Tech head coach Danny Hall said. "We've been swinging the bats well of late. We've been hitting a lot of home runs of late."
Mercer hosts Western Carolina (18-21) today and returns to A-Sun action with Gardner-Webb visiting on Friday and Saturday.
Georgia Tech, which hosts Wake Forest this weekend, gave a large Yellow Jackets contingent plenty to cheer about with a season high in home runs against five different Mercer pitchers, with three of the home runs threatening the collection of cars beyond the right-field fence.
"I've never seen the ball fly like that here," said Gibson, who got home runs from John Daugherty, Steve Karwatt, Joe Winker and a ninth-inning three-run shot from Thomas Carroll. "I've been coaching and playing, been a part of 21 years here, and I've never seen it fly out like that."
Tony Plagman and Thomas Nichols had two each for the Yellow Jackets. Tech starter Deck McGuire improved to 7-0 and lowered his 3.28 ERA with six strikeouts and no walks in six innings.
"McGuire's a good arm," Gibson said of the freshman. "I can see why he's 7-0."
Tech's bats going in the third, and relief pitcher Justice French the first victim.
Luke Murton opened with a double and Plagman stroked a homer that just got out in center. There was no doubt one out later about Thomas Nichols' second homer of the year, one that bounced around the cars about 360 feet away for a 4-2 lead in the fourth.
Mercer Right fielder Tyler Brown hardly turned around an inning later on Derek Dietrich's three-run homer off Lath Guyer.
Tech, third in the ACC with 54 homers entering the game, scored two runs in the sixth before Mercer got an out. Home runs by Plagman and Nichols followed as the Yellow Jackets scored seven for a 14-2 lead.
Mercer showed some life with solo homers by pinch-hitters Karwatt and Daugherty in the seventh. Carroll drilled one in the ninth after Mercer had scored a run.
"It's tough to stay in a game like that when you're down a lot of runs," said Carroll, a freshman. "We were just trying to have good at-bats all the way through. I hit it well, but I'm sure I got a little help."
Mercer baseball vs. Georgia Tech