STATESBORO - Georgia Southern started off the game with a seven run inning to lead to a rout of Mercer on Tuesday night at J.I. Clements Stadium.
Georgia Southern's (20-20) first run of the night came from a
Kent Schmidt RBI-single to bring
Sam Blancato home.
JD Kaiser followed that up with an RBI-single of his own to score
Jarrett Brown, then
Sean Smith brought home of them home on a RBI-double off the Blue Monster.
Cade Parker scored
Sean White with an RBI-single, then promptly scored on
Josh Tate's RBI-double to take a quick 7-0 lead after one frame.
Mercer (20-18) followed Southern's offensive outburst with one of its own, scoring six runs in the top of the second, including two runs from bases-loaded hit by pitches. The Eagles took one run back with a Kaiser solo homer in the home half of the second to take a 8-6 lead.
In the top of the fourth inning, Mercer tied the game up with a two-run homer by Brandon Prince to score Jackson Cherry with him.
Parker broke the 8-8 tie in the bottom of the eighth inning with a two-run homer to score
T.J. McKenzie to break the tie, setting Southern up with a 10-8 lead going into the back-half of the contest.
The Eagles would plate three more runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to add insurance runs, starting with a McKenzie RBI-single to score Schmidt, followed by a Parker sacrifice fly to plate Kaiser. Tate knocked an RBI-single to second base to score Smith, but the inning would end on the same play on a base running mistake by Southern.
Mercer would try to make a dent in the lead with a solo homer over the Blue Monster, but the Eagles would add two more in the bottom of the eighth with McKenzie's third home run of the season, a two-run shot down the left field line, putting the Eagles up 15-9, the eventual final.
Garrett Mackowiak earned his first victory of his college career as the pitcher in the game when the Eagles took the lead. In the top of the fifth inning, Mackowiak stuck out Ty Dalley to end a bases-loaded threat by the Bears. Jeb Johnson took the loss after giving up the two-run homer to Parker to break the tie.
Jake Martin earned his second save of season after pitching four innings of relief.
UP NEXT
Georgia Southern heads up I-16 to take on Mercer at OrthoGeorgia Park on Wednesday night. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m.