Mercer surges past Baseball Bucs 12-2

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Andrew Green

Saturday, May 21, 2011

MACON, Ga. (May 20, 2011) - Mercer powered out four home runs as the Bears defeated the ETSU baseball team 12-2 Friday night to take the series at Claude Smith Field in Macon, Ga.

The Bears (36-17, 17-11 A-Sun) out hit the Bucs (35-19, 15-12 A-Sun) 14-7 in the contest. Mercer saw four starters post multiple hits lead by John Moreland who was 3-for-5 with a home run and two RBI.

Starter Derek Bushey (Richmond, Va.) suffered his first loss in five games after giving up eight runs (five earned) on six hits as he was chased from the game in the fifth inning.

Mercer's Justice French improved to 5-2 on the year after limiting the Buccaneers to just one run on five hits with four strikeouts in 5.0 innings.

The Bucs grabbed an early lead as Andrew Green (Powell, Tenn.) opened the contest with a single up the middle to extend his hit streak to 16-games. Later in the inning with Green on second, Dylan Pratt (Johnson City, Tenn.) sent a ball over the head of Mercer shortstop Evan Boyd for an RBI single to give ETSU a 1-0 lead.

Things would go south for the Bucs from there as the Bears plated three runs on two hits and two Buccaneer errors in the bottom of the second to go in front 3-1.

Moreland added a run for Mercer in the bottom of the fourth as he sent a solo home run over the wall in right to make the score 4-1.

Mercer then exploded for five runs on five hits in the fifth inning highlighted by back-to-back home runs by Joe Winker and Jacob Tanis to take an eight run advantage.

The Bucs cut the lead to 9-2 in the top of the sixth as Kerry Doane (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) doubled to left center and then came around to score on a Mercer wild pitch and passed ball.

Burns answered for Mercer as he launched the fourth home run of the game for the Bears to left in the bottom half of the frame to make the score 10-2.

The Bears capped the scoring in the contest in the bottom of the eighth on a pair of RBI doubles by Travis Benn and Moreland to make the final 12-2.

The two teams are slated to close out the series tomorrow at 1 p.m. For more information on Buccaneer baseball, visit ETSUBucs.com or follow the Bucs on Twitter at http://twitter.com/ETSUAthletics.

Mercer 12, ETSU 2 (May 20, 2011 at Macon, Ga.)

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ETSU............ 100 001 000 - 2 7 2 (35-19, 15-12 A-Sun)

MU�............. 030 141 02x - 12 14 0 (36-17, 17-11 A-Sun)

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Win - Justice French (5-2) Loss - Derek Bushey (6-4)

HR - MU - John Moreland (12); Joe Winker (12); Jacob Tanis (15); Billy Burns (6)