No. 2 Mercer Squeezes Past No. 5 Gardner-Webb, 5-4, In A-Sun Tourney Opener
May 23, 2007 | Baseball
DELAND, Fla. – Mercer scored the winning run on a suicide
squeeze in the bottom of the eighth, and held on to beat
Gardner-Webb, 5-4, in the opening game of the 2007 Atlantic Sun
Conference Tournament.
Gardner-Webb (25-31) stranded 12 runners on base, and will drop
into the consolation bracket as a result. The ‘Dogs will play
the loser of Wednesday night's game between No. 1 Stetson and No. 6
Lipscomb.
After GWU tied the score, 4-4, in the top of the eighth on a
two-run, two-out single by Jay McConnell, the Bears responded with
a leadoff double in the bottom half from pinch hitter John Dortch.
A sacrifice bunt pushed Dortch to third, and pinch hitter Casey
Stuart laid down a perfect squeeze bunt to put the Bears up
5-4.
Closer Corey Guerrin (4-2) came on for a second inning of work in
the top of the ninth, and retired the side for his fourth relief
win of the season.
Gardner-Webb squandered a golden opportunity in the top of the
first, as Mercer ace Brantley New walked leadoff man Jamall Kinard
and plunked McConnell before recovering with a strikeout of Daniel
Cooke. Nate MacDonald then legged out an infield single to fill the
sacks – but New fanned Jeremiah Lokken and got a groundout to
strand the bases loaded.
The ‘Dogs finally pushed across a run in the third, taking
advantage of a pair of Mercer fielding errors and an RBI hit from
MacDonald just over the second baseman's head to take a 1-0
lead.
Gardner-Webb starter Jonathon Ban ran into trouble in the bottom of
the third, as Matt Crawford poked a one-out single through the
infield, and Eric Renfroe roped a double to right center to put a
pair in scoring position. Josh Thompson drove in a run with a
sacrifice fly, tying the game at 1-1, but Ban recovered to get
another fly ball to end the frame.
Another Mercer error helped GWU go up 2-1 in the fifth, as Nate
MacDonald singled, then scored from second when Matt Rizzuto
reached on a throwing miscue. Just as they did in the third inning,
the Bears matched Gardner-Webb's offense in the bottom of the
frame, as No. 8 hitter Steve Karwatt led off with a single, moved
to second on a sacrifice and scored on a two-out single by
Renfroe.
Mercer broke on top in in the bottom of the sixth, getting a
two-out hit from Karwatt that plated two, the second on an error
– putting the Bears up, 4-2, before Ban could get out of the
inning.
Gardner-Webb got hits from Josh Drewery and Joey Testa in the
eighth to help load the bases with one out, setting up McConnell's
two-out hit that tied the game. Guerrin came on to get the Bears
back into the dugout still tied, 4-4, and the No. 2 seed got the
run it needed.
Webster Beal (1-7) took the loss in relief for Gardner-Webb, giving
up the winning run in 1.1 innings of work. Ban lasted 6.0 innings,
scattered eight hits and allowed three earned runs (four
strikeouts).
MacDonald (3-for-4) had half of Gardner-Webb's six hits on the day,
with McConnell (1-for-4) driving in a team-high two runs. Cooke's
12-game hit streak came to an end.
New allowed two earned runs in 7.1 innings of work for the Bears,
picking up his second no decision of the year against GWU. Renfroe
and Karwatt each had two of Mercer's nine hits in the game.
| GAME BOX: #2 Mercer 5, #5 GWU 4 |
