Georgia Tech came to Macon looking for revenge for their loss when the two teams met up earlier this season in Atlanta.
The Bears took the win 6-2 against the Yellow Jackets, an upset to be sure. It was the first time Mercer had come out on top against Georgia Tech since 2014.
This time however, Tech threw everything they could at the Bears, giving Mercer their first loss against a Georgia team this year.
Mercer Head Coach Craig Gibson said he believes defensive errors played a large part in giving Georgia Tech the upper hand during the game.
“It’s tough to make mistakes against good offensive pieces,” Gibson said. “They made us pay for it tonight, they were just the better club.”
Here's the Game Breakdown:
| Final Score | ||||||||||
| GT | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 16 |
| Mercer | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 8 |
First, Ammons brought in two runs with an RBI double to left field. Immediately after, Alex Hanson brought in the remaining two runners on base with an RBI single to left field.Things first started heating for Mercer up in the bottom of the second inning when the Bears managed to score four runs against a struggling Georgia Tech pitcher, Brant Hurter.
The Yellow Jackets managed to get runners on base in the following two innings, but were unable to make any magic happen as Mercer pitcher Zach Graveno and the seven gloves behind him got themselves out of each jam.
The game took a turn however when Georgia Tech’s Kyle McCann rocked a grand slam over the right field wall to tie the game in the top of the fifth inning.
Relief pitcher, Nick Spear, was able to get Mercer out of the inning before any more damage could be done, but the Jackets’ bats were just heating up.
In the bottom of the same inning, Mercer looked like they were going to gain some momentum but were stopped short after only scoring one run. Le Bassett hit a single that brought in RJ Yeager from third to bring the score to 5-4.
The yellow jackets responded in the top of the sixth with a couple runs of their own. With runners on first and third, Georgia Tech managed to bring in a runner after a bad fielding throw to first from second baseman Kyle Dockus.
It didn’t end there. Relief pitcher Robert Broom walked a batter to load the bases, then the next batter was hit by a pitch to bring in the go-ahead run.
The Bears were finally able to get out of the inning but not without taking some damage, ending the inning at 5-6.
Mercer wasn’t able to catch a break as Georgia Tech continued their assault in the top of the seventh, scoring four more runs to bring the score to 5-10.
It started with a fielding error that brought in a run and allowed Georgia Tech’s Austin Wilhite to get to advance to third. Next up, Tech’s catcher, Joey Bart hit a two run homer to clear the bases. Kyle McCann then slammed a single homer over the 400 yard mark in center field, his second home run of the night.
After limping through the previous four innings, Mercer came into the bottom of the seventh looking ready to fight back. With bases loaded Brandon Michie hit a two run RBI single.
However, the yellow jackets put a halt to that momentum soon thereafter and came back in the top of the eighth with a single homer over the left field wall from A. Wilhite.
With two outs in the top of the eighth, Bart came up to the plate and hit another home run for the team. Bart ended the night 3-for-3 with 4 runs and 2 homeruns.
The Bears managed to score one run in the bottom of the eighth, an RBI double by Trey Truitt to bring the score to 8-12.
Any legitimate shot of a comeback by Mercer was dashed in the top of the ninth inning. Mercer handed more runs to the yellow jackets as four Tech players crossed home plate off of only one hit and two errors.
Tech retired Mercer’s batters without much fanfare in the bottom of the ninth and that was the game.
After last night’s game, Mercer currently holds a season record of 26-9, and 6-3 in conference play. Their next series begins this Friday against Samford in Birmingham, Alabama.
