Statesboro, Ga. --- The Georgia Southern baseball team (21-16, 7-8 SBC) fell to the Mercer Bears (24-15, 5-4 SOCON) by just one run, 7-6, on Tuesday evening (April 15th).
Unlike the two squads' meeting last week, it was the Bears who jumped on the bats early, producing four runs in the first inning alone to shock the 3,031 fans in attendance at J.I. Clements Stadium, which was best crowd of the season. In their second, the Eagles would halve the deficit as
Luke Odden would reach on one of two Bears errors on the night that would eventually score two.
In the fourth, Mercer would get the duo of runs right back in the fourth, which was sparked by a one-out triple. After that, the Bears offense was frozen cold, as the work of
Will Robbins and
Carter DeGondea would combine for four innings of scoreless ball. They both would only allow one hit, and for the case of DeGondea, he would pick up four strikeouts in 2.2 innings of work.
Using the superb pitching, the Eagles would storm back in the sixth. After two quick fly outs, the Eagles would use a five-hit, four-run two-out rally to tie up the ball game.
Nico Senese would have a two-RBI single to pump the crowd up, which egged on
Sean White and
Daniel Haab to each get an RBI of their own to nod it even at six.
In the ninth, Mercer would have a mini two-out rally of their own to plate one off a Stephens single to left field and score the eventual winning run. The result marks a split of the season series between the two programs, with both wins coming for the visiting team. At the plate on the night,
Sean Smith would make his return to the lineup after missing the last three games and made his presence known. The senior would go 3-4, with his first three at bats being singles.
Daniel Haab would also have a sneaky good night with his trio of base knocks as well.
Next, the Eagles start their early Sun Belt series against Arkansas State on Thursday (April 17th). Fans will be able to purchase the new True Blue Unlocked collection at the stadium, perfectly complimenting the evening's Throwback Thursday theme. First pitch at J.I. is set for 6:30 in Statesboro.
