Mercer’s baseball team hosted Georgia Southern on Wednesday, March 22, losing 12-11. The team faced the same Georgia Southern team earlier in the season, losing 11-0 in that contest in Statesboro.
The team struck first, reeling off four runs in the second inning, led by a Jackson Cherry ‘25 homer that brought in Jozsef Rohrbacher ‘23 to score as well. The team would add two more runs before the inning ended through a Ty Dalley ‘26 homerun and Carter Geier ‘26 run. The Eagles, however, would strike back in the next frame as they equaled the scoreline in the bottom of the third at 4-4.
Overall, the team hit well through the night as it batted .368 against a strong pitching core from Statesboro. The Bears were led by Dalley and Jackson who collectively went six for nine while also bringing in eight of the team’s 11 runs without accruing any strikeouts between themselves.
The pitching, however, struggled throughout the night. The first two innings were scoreless for the Eagles, but when the starting pitcher for the Bears was pulled before the start of the third inning, the dams broke loose. Jess Ackerman ‘26 lasted only .2 innings before the team replaced him. Ackerman was credited with two wild pitches and four earned runs, erasing the lead Mercer built in the second inning.
The scoring slowed down until the top of the seventh inning when Holton McGaha ‘23 was put on the mound. The Eagles loaded the bases with one out, then hit two singles and a double to reclaim the lead, 10-7. Walt Thomas ‘24 would close out the inning without allowing any more damage.
Two runs in the eighth inning from the Eagles furthered the lead, but the Bears responded with a run of their own a half-inning later. After keeping the visitors scoreless in the top of the ninth, the Bears attempted a four-run comeback. Treyson Hughes ‘25 hit his seventh home run of the season, tallying three RBIs to bring the score almost level at 12-11. Georgia Southern held Mercer to a flyball and strikeout to finish the game, completing the season sweep of the Bears.
After the tough midweek loss, the Bears traveled to Charleston to take on the Citadel. The team bounced back from the game against the Eagles by taking the 2-1 series win over the weekend. Mercer now stands at a 16-9 overall record and 2-1 conference record as they prepare to travel to Kennesaw to play the Kennesaw State Owls on Wednesday, March 29 at 6 p.m.
Gabriel Kopp '26 is majoring in Journalism and Law and Public Policy at Mercer University. He has written for The Cluster since he started at Mercer, and currently works as co-Editor-in-Chief. When he isn't studying, he enjoys going for runs and reading The New York Times or the AJC while sipping coffee.
