Wofford takes baseball series finale from Mercer

The Mercer Bears scored five runs in the sixth inning, but the rally fell short as Wofford held on for a 7-5 win Saturday in the final game of a three-game series.

McClain Bradley drove in four runs for the Terriers with two doubles and a single and reliever Will Stillman slammed the door late as Wofford leaves Macon with a 1-2 Southern Conference record.

Wofford jumped out to a 6-0 lead thanks to a five-run third inning off of Mercer starter Kevin Coulter. After a walk and two bunt singles, Max McDougald singled to score one run and Bradley came up with the big blow of the inning, a double that scored two more runs. The Terriers added another run in the fifth on another double by Bradley that scored McDougald to take a 6-0 lead.

Mercer scored five runs in the sixth against Jacob Condra-Bogan. Kyle Lewis started the inning with a home run to right-center, which was followed by a Ben Upton double. After pinch-hitter Jose Hernandez walked, Danny Edgeworth singled to load the bases. Hunter Bening, who had struck out in his first two at-bats, hit a fly ball that easily cleared the center-field wall for a grand slam to make it a 6-5 game.

Mercer threatened late but came no closer, while Wofford added an insurance run in the seventh.

FOUR WHO MATTERED

Bening: The junior first baseman from Fayetteville struggled in his first two at-bats against the hard-throwing Condra-Bogan and quickly was down to his final strike in his third at-bat. But he fought back to get the count to 3-and-2, and then he connected for a grand slam to get the Bears back in the game. He ended the game with two hits.

Lewis: Although it was not his best game at the plate, Lewis got the bats going in the sixth with a solo homer.

Nick Spear: The freshman from Atlanta pitched out of trouble in the seventh and the eighth to keep Mercer in the game.

Bradley: The Wofford No. 3 hitter came up big for the Terriers with three hits and four RBI, and raising his batting average to .360 for the season.

TURNING POINT

Mercer was poised for a late comeback in the eighth inning. Hernandez led off with a walk, and, one out later, Bening singled to give the Bears life. But Tillman, the ace of the Wofford staff, struck out the next two batters to get out of the jam. Tillman lowered his ERA to 0.52 with his performance Saturday.

THEY SAID IT

Mercer head coach Craig Gibson on the comeback: "We are down 6-0, and then Kyle hits the home run and we score five and we are right back in it, and that's a credit to our guys, but they have a good piece at the end, so you want to be ahead of them early. The guys played hard (Saturday), but the final score was a little disappointing."

Gibson on Wofford: It's always hard to beat a good team three straight times. I thought their three starter (Saturday) threw as well as any of their guys, and that guy at the end was drafted last year and I wish he would have signed. It leaves a bad taste in your mouth losing the final game in a series, but we will take winning two out of three and get back to it on Tuesday."

WHAT'S NEXT?

Mercer (15-9) will host Savannah State at 6 p.m. on Tuesday.

This story was originally published March 26, 2016 at 8:18 PM with the headline "Wofford takes baseball series finale from Mercer ."