Eagles Lose to Mercer

STATESBORO, Ga. – Jeremiah Parker (Carrollton/Carrollton) homered and David Richardson (Dahlonega/Lumpkin County) extended his hitting streak to 14 games, but 10 Mercer pitchers combined to defeat Georgia Southern 6-4 on Monday afternoon (May 5) at J.I. Clements Stadium. The Eagles (28-20 overall) had won five of the last six against the Bears.

Mercer (20-28) loaded the bases off Burt Barto (Columbus/Columbus) thanks to a double, walk and single to start the game. One run came on a passed ball then another came home on Mike Armstrong’s RBI groundout. Barto got two more groundouts to end the threat.

GS got a run back in the fourth without a base hit. Parker and A.J. Wirnsberger (Tuscaloosa, AL/Paul Bear Bryant) drew leadoff walks off reliever John Hoelzer. Will Southwell (Moultrie/Colquitt County) reached on a fielder’s choice but the Eagles would load the bases when David Richardson (Dahlonega/Lumpkin County) walked. Brian Pierce (Roswell/Roswell) hit a sacrifice fly to make it 2-1.

Michael Langley hit a leadoff home run in the fifth, extending the Bears lead to 3-1.

Southwell hit a one-out double in the sixth and scored on Richardson’s single. That was the fourth consecutive time Richardson recorded a RBI while extending his hitting streak, now at 14 games.

The Bears scored two in the seventh then added another run in the eighth on Tyler Brown’s leadoff home run.

In the eighth, the Eagles cut the deficit in half. Chris Shehan (Strasburg, PA/Lampeter-Strasburg) was hit by a pitch. Parker greeted relief pitcher Michael Shaw with a 2-run opposite field home run, his ninth shot this year and 30th of his career.

Barto (2-2) allowed the two runs on just three hits in three innings. He walked two and struck out two. After loading the bases in the first Barto and Michael Hester (Evans/Greenbrier) retired 12 of the next 14 batters before Langley’s home run.

Shehan finished 2-for-3 with two doubles. Parker drove in two and scored two times. Wirnsberger, Ty Wright (Montrose/West Laurens) and Phillip Porter (Marietta/Sprayberry) all had their nine-game hitting streak come to an end.

The Eagles were held to eight hits, ending a streak of nine straight games recording double-digit hits. The game time of two hours, 27 minutes was the shortest home game this season and second overall.

Starter David Harden (4-1) only pitched one inning but recorded the win. Josh Lowey worked a 1-2-3 ninth inning to earn his third save. Matt Crawford and Joe Winker had two hits apiece.

Category: Baseball

Published on Monday, 05 May 2008 00:01