Mercer starts strong, holds off Georgia

ATHENS -- The Georgia and Mercer baseball teams had similar starts to Tuesday's game.

Both teams sent the exact same number of batters to the plate in the first two innings, getting exactly one hit in each inning -- a double in the first inning and a single in the second inning -- while not managing to produce much else.

The third inning is where the fate of the teams diverged.

Georgia went three-up-three down in the third and then scored its lone run in the 3-1 loss in the fourth despite having two runners in scoring position to end the inning.

Mercer, on the other hand, opened the scoring with a two-run third that featured doubles by Ryan Hagan and Kyle Lewis. The fourth inning saw three more hits and a two out rally that plated Mercer's third run.

Georgia managed just three hits the rest of the game and couldn't muster any runs to get back into the close game despite a strong effort by the Bulldogs' bullpen.

FOUR WHO MATTERED

Hagan: The senior had three hits with one run scored and one RBI.

Lewis: The All-American had two hits and two RBI.

Andrew Gist: The junior has been an effective weekday staff member for Georgia this season, but he struggled Tuesday, allowing two runs on five hits in just 3-2/3 innings pitched.

Shane Tucker: After a rocky start to the game for Gist and a rough first inning for Mike Mancuso, Tucker came in and gave Georgia two quality innings, allowing just one base runner and striking out three.

TURNING POINT

Early in the game, Gist proved inconsistent, hanging pitches high and struggling to find the strike zone. In the third inning, that finally caught up with him. After walking the second batter in the inning, Hagan got ahold of a pitch high in the zone for a double. Lewis followed him with another double off of a high pitch, scoring both runners and giving Mercer a 2-0 lead that it didn't relinquish.

OBSERVATIONS

Strikeouts: Georgia struggled to put the bat on the ball against the Mercer staff. The Bears tallied 12 strikeouts, including six looking. Submarine pitcher Conard Broom proved most effective of the Bears, notching strikeouts for five of his seven recorded outs.

Men on, but not in: While Georgia scored just one run, it's not like it didn't have its share of baserunners. Only in the second and fifth did the Bulldogs go down without getting at least one man on base. Georgia failed to capitalize on its six hits and four walks.

Runners in scoring position: Mercer hit well with runners in scoring position, and Georgia didn't. Mercer batted .273 with runners in scoring position, while Georgia managed to hit just .143. Situations with men on base didn't end much different, with Mercer hitting .294 compared to Georgia's .182.

WORTH MENTIONING

Three in a row: After winning six straight games earlier in the month, the Bulldogs have hit a skid, dropping the final two games of the weekend against Kentucky before falling to Mercer. The losses also mark the first time all season that Georgia has lost consecutive games.

Four straight: Mercer has bounced back from a five-game losing streak to win its past four games.

Leading the nation: Broom's relief appearance was the 15th time he has taken the mound this season, which leads the nation.

THEY SAID IT

Mercer coach Craig Gibson on his pitching staff: “We’re consistent offensively, but we’re a little younger in the pitching staff. Conner Herd went out there and gave us three good innings, and Conard Broom and Taylor Lobus pitched great. Lobus was darn near unhittable when he went out there.”

Gibson on the 6-for-13 night from his two, three and four hitters: “It’s not unlike most games, when those guys hit, you generally when and when they don’t, you’re in trouble.”

Georgia left fielder Keegan McGovern on the offensive struggles: “I don’t think it was their pitching staff, it was mainly us. We didn’t have the at bats we wanted to have. Early on we were telling ourselves we’re not going to swing at the pitcher’s pitches. We just had a hard time doing it.” 

Georgia coach Scott Stricklin on his pitching staff: “(Gist) wasn’t at his best but he kept us in the game. He gave us a chance. I thought our bullpen did a great job. Mike Mancuso got five outs for us. He did give up a run but he got five outs for us and then Shane Tucker and Blakely Brown were both really good. So our pitching certainly didn’t lose us this game. Our pitching gave us a chance to win, our offense just couldn’t do anything.”

Stricklin on men left on base: “We’ve got to get guys in. You get guys on base, you can’t leave them there. We struck out looking twice, I know, with a runner on second for sure and it might’ve been more than that.”

Stricklin on the three-game losing streak: “You can’t push the panic button. That’s the bottom line. You have to come ready to prepare. … You’ve got to put it behind you and move on.”

WHAT'S NEXT?

Mercer hosts Wofford in a three-game series starting Thursday, while Georgia opens a three-game series Thursday at Mississippi State.

This story was originally published March 22, 2016 at 9:26 PM with the headline "Mercer starts strong, holds off Georgia ."