Late rally falls short for Mercer baseball

Mercer's potent offense did its best to slug the Bears to victory by pelting five home runs in Sunday's Southern Conference home finale against The Citadel, but a tough afternoon on the mound proved costly as Mercer fell 9-8.

After The Citadel's Mike Deese homered the opposite way in the top of the first, Mercer (30-18, 14-7) grabbed its only lead of the game in the bottom half on a two-run towering homer to right off of the bat of Danny Edgeworth.

The Bulldogs (16-32, 6-12) responded immediately in the second, scoring three runs off of Mercer starter Kevin Coulter after he picked up two quick outs to begin the inning. Coulter couldn't escape the inning as he was lifted after surrendering four runs on five hits and three walks.

The Citadel extended its lead to 7-2 in the fourth thanks to a three-run shot off of the bat of shortstop William Kinney.

Mercer drew one back in the fifth and then scored twice more in the sixth as Kyle Lewis and pinch-hitter Blaise Lezynski both contributed solo home runs.

After the Bulldogs scored twice more in the seventh to extend their lead to 9-5, Mercer again played long ball, with Trey Truitt homering and Lewis hitting his second homer of the day to drive in Edgeworth, who had walked one batter prior.

The Bears went quietly in the eighth and then loaded the bases after two were out in the ninth, but The Citadel's Zach Lavery got Ryan Hagan to fly out to end the game. Lavery worked 2 1/3 innings of shutout baseball to pick up the save and make a winner out of Jacob Watcher, who surrendered three runs in his five innings of work.

THREE WHO MATTERED

Lewis: The junior was honored on Senior Day before the game due to his pending selection in the Major League Baseball Draft, and he made the most of what likely was his final game at Claude Smith Field. Lewis finished 3-for-4, drove in three runs and tallied his 16th and 17th home runs of the season, including a mammoth shot over the scoreboard above the 370-foot sign in left-center field.

Kinney: The Citadel shortstop entered the game hitting just .173, but he had two hits on Sunday, including the big blow in the fourth that scored three.

Truitt: Mercer's leadoff hitter finished the day 3-for-4 with a home run, a walk, an RBI and two runs scored. His two-out single in the ninth kept the Bears alive, but he was left stranded at third.

WORTH MENTIONING

Saying goodbye: This was the final regular-season game at Claude Smith Field as it currently exists. Work will soon begin on OrthoGeorgia Park, which will sit on the site of the current stadium.

Staff outing: A tough start on the mound from Coulter proved to steamroll downhill as the Bears used six pitchers in the ballgame, combining to throw 214 pitches. They walked seven and surrendered 14 hits.

Losing ground: The sting of Sunday's loss was compounded after UNC-Greensboro beat Wofford 6-1. Mercer is now two games behind the Spartans in the loss column for the top spot in the Southern Conference. The Bears will travel to Greensboro on May 19 for what could be a critical three-game series.

UP NEXT

Mercer opens a two-game non-conference series Tuesday at Florida A&M, while The Citadel hosts Winthrop in non-conference action Wednesday.

This story was originally published May 8, 2016 at 6:38 PM with the headline "Late rally falls short for Mercer baseball."