Mercer baseball advances to SoCon championship game
The Mercer baseball team scored six runs in the final two innings to seal a 9-8 victory over Western Carolina on Saturday at Fluor Field in Greenville, South Carolina. The Bears advance to the Southern Conference Championship title game for the second straight season.
After a three-run seventh put Western Carolina up 7-3, Mercer rallied to tie things in the top of the eighth. Ryan Hagan connected on a three-run homer to left, while Matt Meeder added an RBI single to drive Jackson Ware home with the tying run.
Mercer retired Western Carolina in order in the bottom of the eighth before Blaise Leyznski’s base hit drove Kyle Lewis home with the go-ahead run. Ware then had an RBI triple.
“(The Western Carolina pitcher’s) delivery was a little slow, so that allowed me to get my weight back,” Leyznski said. “All day I was trying to get the ball on the barrel — I was seeing it well (Saturday) — things just didn't work out early on. Luckily I found a pitch that was across the plate, and it found my barrel. No. 1 through No. 9 it was incredible; everyone contributed, and I just wanted to be one of them.”
Western Carolina plated one run in the bottom of the ninth, but Austin Lord (5-1) silenced the Catamounts with a game-ending strikeout to pick up the victory in relief.
Mercer was held hitless until the fifth inning, but the Bears got going at that point, with Lewis connecting on a three-run homer in that inning. The homer was Lewis’ 20th of the season.
"We always knew something was coming and that we were on the brink of breaking through,” said Lewis, who increased his RBI total to 72. “I was just trying to tell the guys to relax and continue to believe in ourselves. Being able to pull that one off is huge going into (Sunday).”
Mercer (38-21) is slated to play at 1 p.m. on Sunday. As the lone unbeaten team remaining, the Bears will get two chances to win one game. A second championship game will be played an hour after the first game’s conclusion should Mercer lose.
Western Carolina was slated to play the Samford on Saturday evening in the final elimination bracket game. That winner advances to face Mercer.
“You're not a good team until you can come from behind,” Mercer head coach Craig Gibson said. “We've been battle-tested this year; we've been in a lot of close games. When we did get down 4-0, there wasn't a lot of panic and we had a chance to get back in it late.”
Mercer had a scary moment in the top of the eighth when outfielder Trey Truitt took a pitch to the head and was forced out of the game. Although Truitt walked off the field, Gibson told the SoCon Digital Network that Truitt was sent to the hospital to get checked out.
“Rest is huge right now,” Gibson said. “It was an emotional game for us to get through. For Truitt to get hit in the head right there, it was a tough one.
“It was a great baseball game. You’re going to have some close ones, and we were fortunate enough to come out on top.”
This story was originally published May 28, 2016 at 5:24 PM with the headline "Mercer baseball advances to SoCon championship game."