Georgia State rallies to knock off Mercer

Georgia State scored five times in the ninth inning on only three hits to take a 10-6 win over host Mercer on Wednesday night in non-conference college baseball.

Georgia State took advantage of three walks and one hit batsmen as well as key hits by Joey Roach and Kevin Coulter in the ninth inning to take the lead after Mercer had scored three times in the eighth to take a 6-5 lead.

Mercer took a 1-0 lead on a leadoff homer by Trey Truitt, but Georgia State tied it in the fourth and took a 4-1 lead in the sixth on a Jack Thompson three-run blast.

Mercer still trailed 5-3 heading into the eighth before Danny Edgeworth homered with two outs, and Truitt tied the game with a single to right field that scored Matt Meeder.

Blaise Lezynski, who had reached base when he was hit by a pitch, scored the go-ahead run on a wild pitch. But Mercer could not rally in the ninth and fell to 16-10 on the year.

THREE WHO MATTERED

Truitt: Truitt had two hits as well as a walk and a sacrifice bunt. He also drove in two runs and scored once.

Edgeworth: He ignited his team's three-run rally in the eighth when he hit a deep fly ball over the right-field fence on an 0-2 count with two outs. He also knocked in another run on a groundout.

Roach: The Georgia State catcher had three hits in the game, scored three times, and knocked in a run in the ninth inning.

OBSERVATION

Walks will kill you: Mercer used eight pitchers, and they combined for 11 walks and two hit batsmen. Six of those walks were in the final two innings.

THEY SAID IT

Mercer head coach Craig Gibson on the pitching performance in a mid-week non-conference game: "Well, we just walked some guys, way too many guys. Some guys got a chance to pitch, and we have some young guys that need to grow up. We walked 10 or 12 guys, and you can't do that."

Gibson on what he said to his team after the game: "Well, I told them that you have to have a short-term memory in this game. We didn't play well (Wednesday) and credit to Georgia State, they are just better than us. They are 2-0 against us and they had their way with us and we just have to get ready for Samford. That's a big game Friday night."

NEXT UP

Mercer visits Samford in a Southern Conference series that begins Friday night.

This story was originally published March 31, 2016 at 1:16 AM with the headline "Georgia State rallies to knock off Mercer ."